The wide majority of Greek citizens prefers the forming of a national unity government rather than holding early general elections, according to the results of two opinion polls released on Saturday in Athens.
A poll by ALCO, commissioned by Proto Thema newspaper, showed 52 percent of the public in favour of the unity government plan put forward by Prime Minister George Papandreou, while 36 percent want snap elections as sought by the conservative opposition.
Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is considered most capable of leading the ruling PASOK party and ensuring its unity, according to 34 percent of PASOK voters, compared with 10 percent for Papandreou, the ALCO poll found.
Poll showed that 79 percent of the public would not give their government a vote of confidence, against 13 percent who would.
According to the ALCO poll, 79 percent of the public think the referendum was a bad idea and only 12 percent support it.
Another poll commissioned by Ethnos newspaper puts support for the rival ideas at 45 percent and 41.7 percent respectively.
According to the second opinion poll, five out of ten Greeks expressed doubt that any new government could implement different policies rather than the austerity and reform drive launched last year under the bailout agreement with international lenders to address the debt crisis which threatens Greece with default and the euro zone with a domino effect.
Both polls gave main opposition conservative New Democracy party a lead with 22.5 percent to 15- 15.5 percent for the ruling socialist PASOK party.
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