Syriza keeps 4-6% lead as election day looms

Anti-bailout opposition party Syriza seems to be maintaining a 4 to 6 percentage point lead over ruling New Democracy in most opinion polls, as Greece braces for a left-leaning government after Sunday’s election.

A survey by the University of Macedonia conducted for SKAI Television showed Syriza widening its poll lead grow to 6.5 points on Monday, up from a 4.5 point lead a week ago.

Syriza is seen winning 33.5% of the 31.5%, while Prime Minister Antonis Democracy party, was unchanged at 27%.

Another survey on Monday, carried out by Alco for the newspaper Proto Thema, put Syriza on 33.1% with the conservatives on 28.5%, a 4.6 point lead for Syriza compared with a difference of 3.5 points in a poll by the same pollster last week.

Alco projected the leftist party would win 147 deputies in Greece’s 300-seat parliament, just short of an overall majority. That number is based on projections and includes a bonus of 50 seats the electoral system allows the winning party in order to make it easier to form a government.

A third survey by GPO for television station Mega also showed Syriza in the lead, this time extending its 3.2 point lead two weeks ago to 4 points, with the anti-bailout party on 30.4% compared to 26.4% for New Democracy.

All three pollsters indicated that the centrist Potami (River) could play the role of kingmaker if voters deliver a hung parliament, with the political movement created by a journalist-turned-politician coming in third place, although jointly with the far-right Golden Dawn in one survey. Samaras’ coalition partners, centre-left Pasok, trailed at 4.5% in the University of Macedonia poll, the old-school communist KKE is at 4-5%, while former Pasok leader George Papandreou’s new socialist party hardly seems to garner 2-3% in all polls.