According to an opinion poll released this week, the first after the “traditional” political hiatus of July and August, the ruling New Democracy (ND) is again comfortably ahead of its political rivals, although the latter’s percentage of respondents’ preference is significantly lower than the 41% it picked up in the last general election.
The conservative party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis picks up 22.2% in this poll, conducted by the Interview firm, notably down from the 31.2% it garnered in December 2023, a development viewed as showing a distinct electoral “fatigue.”
However, every rival party following shows a similar or greater downward trend, with the current main opposition party, leftist SYRIZA, falling from second place – its election showing – to fifth place, as it picked up only 8.3% of respondents’ preference.
SYRIZA falls behind, at least on the pollsters’ scorecard, socialist PASOK (11.7%), the old-guard Communist Party (KKE) at 8.7%, and the right-of-center Eurosceptic Elliniki Lysi (Greek Solution), which picks up 8.8%.
The opinion poll was conducted on a sample of 2.805 respondents between Aug. 21 and Aug. 26 by Interview for the outlet Politic.
Despite a notable decline in the ruling conservative party’s showing among the electorate, especially after the large Attica fires, which burned thousands of hectares of forest and farmland at the start of August, the main opposition party, SYRIZA, has failed to capitalize on the electorate’s fatigue and shortcomings of ND in dealing with the natural disaster.
The leftist party, led by Stefanos Kasselakis, has plunged into a tailspin as a result of acrimonious inter-party squabbling.
