Ruling ND fields 6.9%-point lead over SYRIZA; Mitsotakis easily ahead in popularity of political party leaders

The latest opinion poll unveiled this week in Greece shows an increase in support for ruling New Democracy (ND) and main opposition SYRIZA, but losses for the third-in-rank party in Parliament, socialist PASOK.

The findings come as a general election must be held in the east Mediterranean country in the first half of 2023.

The gap between center-right ND and leftist SYRIZA is 6.9 percentage points, extrapolated from the valid responses, according to the Alco firm.

The opinion poll results were presented on the prime-time newscast of an Athens-based television station on Tuesday evening.

ND is favored by 31 percent of respondents (valid responses), compared to 30.3 percent it received in the previous such poll. The figure is 24.1 percent for SYRIZA, up from 23 percent.

PASOK is preferred by 10.7 percent of respondents in the poll, down by 0.7 percentage points from the previous such survey by the same firm.

Incumbent prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis maintains a 10-percentage point lead over former premier Alexis Tsipras on the question of which political party leader citizens trust more as the head of government. Mitsotakis increased his popularity by two percentage points from the previous poll; one percentage point higher for Tsipras.

Another two smaller parties currently represented in Parliament, right-wing Elliniki Lysi (Hellenic Solution) and Yannis Varoufakis’ radical leftist Mera25 also appear as gaining in the opinion poll.

What raised eyebrows, however, is a new political formation by jailed one-time Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi) deputy Ilias Kasidiaris garnering 2.6 percent, in an extrapolation of valid responses.

Golden Dawn is an outlawed ultra-rightist party, with many of its most prominent cadres convicted of felony charges related to the establishment and operation of a criminal organization.