Two opinion polls show SYRIZA's lead over N. D. diminishes
Opinion polls conducted separately by Alco and Kapa Research companies on behalf of "Proto Thema" and the Sunday edition of "Vima" newspapers respectively, showed that the distance separating the incumbent coalition government's senior partner New Democracy party and main opposition Radical Left Coalition SYRIZA party is diminishing. SYRIZA continues to lead New Democracy in the opinion polls, as the political battle for electing a new President of the Republic from the current Parliament - thus, averting early general elections - rages.
Specifically, Kapa Research found that SYRIZA's lead over New Democracy now stands at 2.8 percentage points, from 3.6 percentage points last month. SYRIZA gets 25.5 pct of voting intentions, New Democracy (senior coalition gov't partner) 22.8 pct, PASOK (junior coalition gov't partner) 6.7 pct, Potami party 6 pct, Golden Dawn 5.9 pct, Communist Party 5.8 pct and Independent Greeks (ANEL) 2.7. Democratic Left (DIMAR) appears to have suffered catastrophic vote losses, to the point of disappearing from the voting intentions map. In the same poll, 57.8 pct of those asked, required the election of a new President by the current Parliament, while a hefty 59.1 pct thinks the danger of Greece exiting the euro-zone has not been averted.
In Alco's opinion poll, SYRIZA appears to be leading New Democracy by 3.6 percentage points (27.6 pct over 24.0 pct, respectively), with Golden Dawn getting third spot with 5.6 pct of voting intentions, followed by PASOK with 5.0 pct, Communist Party 4.4 pct, Potami party 4.1 pct and Independent Greeks (ANEL) 2.9 pct..
