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Greece's election campaign formally began with polls showing Alexis Tsipras's lead over opposition parties may not be large enough for the former prime minister to avoid thorny coalition negotiations.
Tsipras's Syriza party would get 24.6 per cent of the vote if elections were held now, with a 1.8 percentage-point lead over main opposition party New Democracy, according to an MRB survey for the Agora newspaper. A poll for Alpha TV gave Syriza a lead of 2.1 percentage points, while a University of Macedonia survey for Skai TV had Syriza ahead by 3 percentage points over New Democracy, led by Evangelos Meimarakis.
As a vote-weary public returns to the ballots, these polls suggest that the 41-year-old leader won't secure enough votes for an absolute majority. During his eight months in office, Greece was on the cusp of leaving the euro. The prospect of messy coalition talks would further complicate the implementation of conditions set out for the third bailout to stave off the crisis.
The opposition parties Syriza may have to work with after the vote represent "the old political system, vested interests, corruption, clientelism and kleptocracy," Tsipras told his party members on Saturday. The leaders of New Democracy, Pasok and the River - the three parties that backed his agreement with euro-area member states last month when his own lawmakers staged a mutiny - as being responsible for Greece's "national tragedy," he said.
"The risk is that if Syriza doesn't get an absolute majority in parliament, that if the allies it wants don't make it to parliament, then we'll go to new elections again in November and December," River party leader Stavros Theodorakis, whose party backed the rescue deal with creditors, said in an interview. "We'll become a country which will hold elections every three to six months."
