Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy (ND) Conservatives continued to hold a lead over the major opposition party Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) but by less than 1 percent in a poll conducted by the Marc/Alpha agency.
ND had 21.6 percent with SYRIZA at 20.7 percent. The poll showed the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn still locked in third with 9.4 percent, ahead of Independent Greeks (5.6 percent), the fading-once-dominant PASOK Socialists (4.8 percent), the KKE Communists (4.5 percent) and the tiny Democratic Left (DIMAR) at 4 percent, only 1 percent above the threshold needed to win seats in Parliament when elections are held.
PASOK and DIMAR, coalition partners in Samaras’ government, are paying a heavy price for supporting their otherwise political rival and continuing to back pay cuts, tax hikes and slashed pensions that are antithetical to their party principles. They have combined only 8.6 percent, less than Golden Dawn, whose anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, anti-gay, anti-austerity stance is paying dividends.
The survey showed that 44.2 percent of those participating in the poll believed that New Democracy would win the next round of general elections, compared to 37.8 percent who felt it would be SYRIZA.
On the issue of who would be more suitable for the position of Prime Minister, respondents gave the lead to Antonis Samaras with 46.6 percent, while Alexis Tsipras was a distant second with 29.4 percent.
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