Polls confirm no favorite in Greek election going down to wire

Hailed as Europe’s anti-austerity poster boy when he was swept into power in January on a wave of rebellious sentiment against bailout conditions imposed by worldwide creditors, Tsipras once seemed invincible.

Both Syriza and New Democracy admit the necessity of implementing reforms linked to the new bailout but disagree on who will do it in the most efficient manner.

Chair of Confederal Group of the European United Left Gabriele Zimmer will also address the crowd showing her support for the former prime minister.

Despite the plethora of party choices, six percent of the Greek population were still yet to decide about who to vote for.

Greece’s leftist Syriza party and its main rival, conservative New Democracy, have been running neck-and-neck in polls before Sunday’s election, making an outright victor unlikely.

Whichever party wins, it will have little room for manoeuver given that the country’s fiscal policy is pretty much dictated by the terms of its new three-year, 86 billion-euro ($97 billion) bailout, noted Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos, assistant professor of political science at the University of Athens.

Former primer minister and leftist Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras (L) gestures next to the conse …

Weakened within his own party, Tsipras resigned in order to force a snap election and, he hopes, win a stronger – and this time pro-bailout – mandate from voters.

“We have radical differences on key issues”, he said.

The far-right Golden Dawn, some of whose leaders are in prison, came third in all four polls, but with a maximum of 8.3 percent.

New Democracy leader Meimarakis said Tsipras had “brought destruction in this country”. As with the year’s earlier votes, party kiosks have been set up in Athens’s Syntagma square and rallies will be held by the main parties. But if opinion poll indications prove true, even that will not be enough to form a majority government, meaning the victor will have to seek support from smaller parties to form a coalition.

Following behind are the Greek Communist Party (5.5 percent), mainstream socialist Pasok and Potami, at 5 percent.

With 149 out of 300 seats, he formed a coalition with the small nationalist ANEL party to add 13 MPs to his voting bloc.

“On Sunday we vote to reject the return of the old status quo of servitude, dependence, corruption and vested interests”.

He has yet to comment on the TV appearance of his former comrade Lafazanis, who led the summer rebellion that split the Syriza party asunder.