Polls predict tight race in Greece upcoming election

By Vasiliki Mitsiniotou and Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS

Opinion polls are predicting a tight race between the leftist Syriza party and the center-right New Democracy party in the upcoming elections in Greece on Sunday.

According to a poll by the University of Macedonia released on behalf of Greek Skai television Wednesday, New Democracy had 30 percent of Greek votes, outrunning Syriza by just 0.5 percent.

Far right, neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn held the third place despite what seemed to be a slight decline from the 6.28 percent it held in the previous elections to 6.5 percent.

Following behind are the Greek Communist Party (5.5 percent), mainstream socialist Pasok and Potami, at 5 percent. Newly-formed Popular Unity made up by Syrizas’ dissident parliamentarians had 4 percent. Independent Greeks, which governed with Syriza, had just below 2.5 percent of the Greek votes.

According to a poll conducted by ProRata for the left-leaning Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper on Tuesday, Syriza was placed on top with 28 percent, beating New Democracy by 4 percent. On September 11, the same poll gave Syriza a lead by 5 percent.

Also, the ProRata poll showed that 33 percent of respondents believed Tsipras was more convincing in last Monday’s debate, against 26 percent that voted for New Democracy’s leader Evangelos Meimarakis.

Despite the plethora of party choices, six percent of the Greek population were still yet to decide about who to vote for. These people will be highly targeted in the last ditch efforts by both New Democracy and Syriza and are likely to swing the vote in favor of one or the other coming out victorious.

Last election rallies would be held at the Omonoia square for Meimarakis’ on Thursday night followed by Tsipras at Syntagma on Friday.

Syriza party’s Alexis Tsipras’ resigned from his post as prime minister on August 20.

After a difficult governing marked by strenuous negotiations and failures, a referendum and capital controls, Tsipras had decided that a new election could grant him a stable government with which he could implement the last elements of a bailout agreement with international creditors.