Greece’s radical-left Syriza party is leading in the race to win the country’s elections next month, a public-opinion poll showed Thursday, outpacing the rival conservative New Democracy party by a four-point margin.
According to the poll for the privately owned SKAI television channel and Kathimerini newspaper, Syriza, which opposes Greece’s austerity measures, would garner 30% of the vote if elections were held today, versus 26% for the conservatives.
The poll, conducted by the Public Issue polling company, is adjusted to calculate the likely voting intentions of undecided voters. In the May 6 elections, Syriza catapulted from a small fringe party with about 5% of the vote into a surprise second- place finish. Its popularity has grown since then, and it is now the most popular party, according to the poll.
The SKAI/Kathimerini poll also showed Pasok with 15.5% of the vote, Independent Greeks with 8% support and Democratic Left with 6.5%. Greece’s Communist Party would receive 5% of the vote, while the ultra nationalist Golden Dawn party would garner 4%. The poll also shows that the newly formed pro-bailout coalition party, Recreate Greece-Drassi, hovering at close to the 3% threshold needed to enter parliament.
However, recent opinion polls released last weekend show Syriza neck-and-neck with the conservative New Democracy party, indicating that the race still remains wide open. The SKAI/Kathimerini poll also shows that 54% of respondents, regardless of their voting intentions, think New Democracy will win the next elections, compared with only 35% who think so for Syriza.
A second poll, also released Thursday, for the small regional Peloponnisos newspaper showed the two parties in a statistical dead heat, with 23.5% support for New Democracy and 23% for Syriza.
The poll, conducted by polling company DATA RC, put support for Pasok at 10.6%, Independent Greeks at 5.3%, the Communist Party at 4.6%, Golden Dawn at 5.1% and Democratic Left with 3.3% support. The poll also showed the number of undecided voters at 16.1%.
(source: SKAI, Kathimerini, Dow Jones)
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