ND candidates brush off rumors of dropping out
Two of the contenders for New Democracy’s top post on Thursday denied speculation that they are mulling dropping out of the December 20 race as an opinion poll showed Evangelos Meimarakis leading the race.
The survey, conducted by Interview polling firm, showed Meimarakis on 36 percent and Kyriakos Mitsotakis trailing in second place on 24 percent. Apostolos Tzitzikostas and Adonis Georgiadis were shown battling for third place on 19 and 17 percent respectively.
The lack of a fixed electoral body has led to criticism of poll findings. A recent survey showed Tzitzikostas, the governor of central Macedonia, leading the race.
In an interview on Alpha TV on Thursday, Meimarakis, who quit as ND’s interim chairman after last month’s botched election, distanced himself from the fiasco while brushing off rumors that he would quit the race. In a message on Twitter, Georgiadis batted away speculation about his candidacy, suggesting it was orchestrated by political foes.
Thursday also saw Antonis Samaras come out of relative seclusion. In an article posted on Liberal.gr, the former conservative prime minister launched a scathing attack on the ruling SYRIZA party for rolling back his legacy of reforms.
“The wave of reforms had never advanced as much as it did in the three-year period 2012-2014. It was then stopped. Only temporarily however,” said Samaras, who was Greek premier until ND’s defeat at January elections.
