Anti-bailout Syriza extends poll lead as Greek vote nears
A survey by Rass for iefimerida.gr showed the radical-left Syriza, which has been running on pledges to renegotiate Greece's debt, widened its opinion poll lead to 4.2 percentage points from 3.8 points in a previous survey.
Greece's election is being closely watched by financial markets as a Syriza victory could trigger a standoff with European Union and IMF lenders and unleash a new financial crisis.
In an op-ed piece for the Financial Times published on Wednesday, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras reiterated a call for a European debt conference to forgive Greek debt and asked for time to change Greece and implement reforms.
"We have not been in government; we are a new force that owes no allegiance to the past," he wrote. "We will make the reforms that Greece actually needs.
The poll by Rass for iefimerida.gr showed Syriza would get 31.2 percent of the vote if elections were held now versus 27 percent for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservatives.
Conducted between Jan. 19-20, the poll showed the centrist party To Potami (River), which could play a kingmaker role if voters deliver a hung parliament, in third place with 6.3 percent.
The leading party must generally receive between 36 and 40 percent of the vote to win outright, though it depends on the share of the vote taken by parties that fail to reach a 3 percent threshold to enter parliament.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' coalition partner, centre-left Pasok, trailed at 4.0 percent, the poll showed.
Here is a breakdown of recent opinion poll results:
Date Poll Syriza ND River GD KKE Pasok IG DL MDS
21/01 Rass 31.2 27.0 6.3 4.5 5.5 4.0 3.1 -- 2.2
19/01 GPO 30.4 26.4 5.2 5.2 4.8 5.1 3.0 1.0 2.5
19/01 *UOM 33.5 27.0 7.5 5.5 5.5 4.5 3.0 0.5 1.5
19/01 *Alco 33.1 28.5 5.3 5.0 4.3 4.3 3.3 - 2.3
17/01 Kapa 31.2 28.1 5.4 4.7 4.9 5.0 2.7 - 2.7
16/01 *Metron 35.4 30.8 7.1 5.4 5.1 4.2 3.0 - 2.7
16/01 Rass 29.6 25.8 6.1 5.0 5.2 4.2 3.5 - 2.1
15/01 *Pulse 31.5 28.0 6.5 6.0 5.0 6.0 3.0 - 2.5
14/01 *Alco 32.4 28.9 5.3 5.2 4.2 3.7 2.7 - 2.5
13/01 Rass 30.2 27.2 5.8 4.8 4.4 3.6 2.7 - 2.3
12/01 *UOM 31.5 27.0 6.5 6.0 6.0 3.0 3.0 0.5 2.0
10/01 *Pulse 30.5 27.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 3.0 - 2.5
10/01 Kapa 28.1 25.5 6.5 5.4 5.0 5.2 2.6 - 2.8
10/01 *Alco 33.1 29.7 4.8 4.5 3.9 4.2 2.4 - 2.6
10/01 MRB 28.1 25.1 5.7 4.5 4.8 4.6 2.6 0.9 2.4
09/01 Marc 29.6 26.4 5.6 5.5 5.0 3.8 2.7 - 2.6
09/01 Rass 29.8 27.1 5.0 5.2 4.8 3.4 2.4 - 2.2
09/01 *Metron 34.1 30.0 8.4 5.6 5.3 4.1 3.5 - 2.8
07/01 *Pulse 30.5 27 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 3.0 - 2.5
07/01 GPO 28.5 25.3 5.8 5.4 5.7 5.0 2.7 - 2.6
07/01 *Alco 33.8 30.5 4.5 4.4 4.1 3.9 2.4 - 2.7
04/01 Rass 30.4 27.3 4.7 3.8 4.8 3.5 2.5 - -
* Poll result excludes abstaining voters to project how the poll data would translate into an actual vote result.
ND: conservative New Democracy party
Syriza: Radical Left Coalition party
GD: far-right Golden Dawn party
IG: right-wing Independent Greeks party
PASOK: Socialist party
KKE: Communist party
DL: Democratic Left party
MDS: Movement of Democratic Socialists
UOM: University of Macedonia
(Reporting by George Georgiopoulos, editing by Deepa Babington)