Tinos, Thira, Naxos top good governance rankings

A University of Thessaly study evaluating all 332 municipalities in the country based on 16 good governance, internal control, transparency, and financial management criteria identified three Cyclades municipalities among the top-ranked in the nationwide ranking. According to the results as reported by naxostimes.gr, the Municipality of Tinos ranked 18th nationally with a score of 12 out of 16, the Municipality of Thira (Santorini) placed 12th, while the Municipality of Naxos and Minor Islands ranks 16th. The result was published Wednesday, September 2, 2026. All three municipalities thus rank among the top twenty of the total 332 municipalities examined, with the Municipality of Thira recording the highest position among the three Cycladic municipalities.

The study is connected to Professor Andreas G. Koutumba and evaluated all 332 municipalities in the country based on sixteen criteria concerning good governance, internal control, transparency, and financial management of local government organizations. The Municipality of Tinos published the result through Mayor Panagiotis Krontiras, who, according to naxostimes.gr, presented the ranking as recognition of the municipality’s performance in the specific areas. The study does not report, according to the publication, detailed information about the performance of other municipalities nationwide beyond the positions recorded for the three Cycladic municipalities.

The simultaneous presence of three Cyclades municipalities among the top twenty in the nationwide ranking reveals, according to the study findings, a trend of relatively better organization in management and transparency in island municipalities that often face increased administrative burden due to tourism seasonality. This finding is part of the broader context of local government in the Cyclades, where other recent developments at municipal level have been recorded, such as the case of the municipal community of Hermoupolis in Syros. The ranking, however, concerns only the three specific municipalities mentioned in the study, without extending to conclusions about the broader island complex.

Naxostimes.gr does not report whether the University of Thessaly study will be published in full, nor whether detailed information will follow for the individual criteria in which the three Cyclades municipalities underperformed or excelled. The ranking remains, according to the publication, a snapshot of evaluation based on the study’s sixteen criteria, without announcement whether it will be repeated on a regular basis or lead to specific practice changes by the municipalities of Tinos, Thira, and Naxos and Minor Islands. The Municipality of Tinos, through Mayor Panagiotis Krontiras, is the only one of the three that formally commented on the result. It is unclear whether the municipalities of Thira and Naxos and Minor Islands publicly commented on the ranking, as the publication refers explicitly only to the Municipality of Tinos’s response.