A new opinion poll has confirmed that left-wing former prime minister Alexis Tsipras’ fledgling ELAS party has elbowed Socialist PASOK away from the top opposition spot, but is far from posing a serious challenge to the governing conservatives.
The Pulse poll for Skai television released Tuesday gave Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ New Democracy party 29.5%, with Tsipras’ ELAS 14 percentage points behind, at 15.5%.
PASOK came third at 11.5%, with rail safety activist and political newcomer Maria Karystianou’s right-of-center Hope for Democracy a very close fourth at 11%.
The poll indicated that another five parties could cross the 3% Parliamentary threshold – the KKE Communist Party, right-wing populist Greek Solution, left-wing populist Course for Freedom, and two more small populist parties. Tsipras’ former SYRIZA party polled at 2.5%, which would keep it out of Parliament.
Asked which party leader was best suited to govern Greece, 30% named Mitsotakis and 17% Tsipras. PASOK’s Nikos Androulakis got 7% and Karystianou 6%.
