By Stamos Zoulas

Our political parties tend to agree that it is not easy to draw conclusions from opinion polls — especially when the findings are unfavorable — and that their chief purpose is as a basis for assessment.

Based on this assumption, there is no reason for New Democracy to gloat over the results of the latest poll conducted by VPRC which gives the ruling party a 4.5 percent lead over opposition PASOK; neither should Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis be exultant that 50 percent of respondents see him as the most suitable leader, as compared to 26 percent who back PASOK leader George Papandreou...

The most interesting statistics should provoke concern in both parties. Indeed, a total of 71 percent of respondents declared themselves dissatisfied with the government’s approach to solving the country’s problems, while 82 percent said they were also unhappy with PASOK.

The fact that 71 percent of citizens can state their dissatisfaction with the government just 14 months after it came to power is worrying — all the more so when we acknowledge that the government has been following a policy of “mild adjustment” and has yet to implement much-needed structural reforms, which will be unpopular with certain social groups.

This lack of trust should be of real concern to the government as it is no basis upon which to execute the bold reforms it has been planning...