PASOK is shown second in polls after 11 years

Two opinion polls published since last Thursday show the socialist PASOK party overtaking left-wing SYRIZA for second place.

It is the first time since April 2012 that PASOK is in second place and, among party officials, there is a sense of a return to the old times when PASOK and conservative New Democracy were, for 35 years, the two dominant poles of Greek politics.

Still, while ahead of SYRIZA, PASOK is shown to be well over 20 percentage points behind ruling New Democracy. Party officials are aware that gains in the polls have more to do with the crisis afflicting SYRIZA. Already, voices within PASOK are calling out the leadership for being too cautious.

There is also tension between those who want PASOK to follow a populist line to attract the voters that left it for SYRIZA and those who want it to position itself as a more effectivet reform force than the current government.