Opinion polls suggest election surprise may be on the cards

New opinion polls published on Wednesday indicated that the days leading up to the September 20 elections will be extremely tense as the surveys suggest that what looked like a certain SYRIZA victory a few weeks ago could even become a victory for New Democracy.

A poll by GPO for Mega TV put the conservatives ahead of SYRIZA for the first time during this campaign. According to the channel’s survey, New Democracy is on 25.3 percent, against 25 percent for SYRIZA. At the same time, Alexis Tsipras’s popularity appears to have dropped as Evangelos Meimarakis’s has risen. Tsipras was preferred as prime minister by 28.8 percent of respondents, while Meimarakis gathered favorable responses from 27.1 percent of those questioned.

The survey also placed Golden Dawn in third place on 5.5 percent, followed by PASOK on 5.3 percent and the Communist Party on 5.1. Potami comes in sixth on 4.6 percent and Popular Unity, formed by SYRIZA rebels, garners 4 percent. The Union of Centrists follows with 3.2 percent and Independent Greeks is seen right on the 3 percent threshold that delivers seats in Parliament. GPO found that 12.8 percent of voters were undecided.

The closeness of the election contest was also reflected in an Alco poll for the Newsit website, which put SYRIZA on 23 percent and New Democracy on 22.6.

Meanwhile, a Pulse survey for the Action 24 TV station suggested SYRIZA is on 26 percent and New Democracy just a percentage point behind on 25.

The conservative camp believes the opinion polls are showing a shift in public opinion that could lead to New Democracy being the victor on September 20. Party sources suggest that SYRIZA is doing badly among voters over the age of 50. In contrast, SYRIZA believes that if it can win back undecided voters it will win the elections.

The SYRIZA and New Democracy leaders met briefly yesterday at Iraklio airport on Crete. Tsipras was returning from a visit to the island for a number of campaign speeches, while Meimarakis was arriving ahead of his own public appearances.

Representatives of all the parties are due to meet today to discuss the details of a televised debate among the party leaders.