ND stays ahead in latest poll
New Democracy and PASOK yesterday finalized their candidate lists ahead of the September 16 election as a new VPRC opinion poll indicated that the ruling conservatives are 4 percent ahead of the Socialists. The survey on behalf of Skai TV and Radio indicated that 42 percent of voters intend to vote for ND and 38 percent for PASOK. The Communist Party (KKE) is on 8.5 percent, Synaspismos Left Coalition on 5 percent and the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) on 4 percent. Three other opinion polls were published yesterday by MRB, GPO and Alco. They also gave ND a lead of 0.7 to 1.4 percent. Along with the VPRC poll, they project that LAOS will, for the first time, break the 3 percent threshold and gain seats in Parliament. This would see five parties gain parliamentary power and could create a tricky situation, depending on the seats gained by the winning party. The VPRC poll suggests that New Democracy will elect 152 MPs to the 300-seat Parliament. This would give the Conservatives a very slim but workable majority and means they would not have to form a coalition with LAOS. Of the 1,033 people questioned, 53 percent believe that ND will win the election. Almost half (49 percent) also believe that Costas Karamanlis would be the most suitable prime minister. Both main parties presented their final 12 election candidates, who have been placed on the State List. This means they will not stand in any specific constituency but will be elected to Parliament based on the proportion of the vote their party receives. ND’s top candidates on the list are former leader Miltiades Evert, Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias, government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos and the former chief of the armed forces Panayiotis Hinofitis. PASOK named Athens-Piraeus Prefect Fofi Gennimata as its top candidate.
