ND cries foul over TV poll
Opposition New Democracy yesterday accused the government of poll manipulation after a survey aired on state TV gave the ruling socialists a rare popularity lead in the upcoming local elections for the Athens metropolitan area. The poll, conducted by Kappa Research on behalf of ERT television, estimated voter support for PASOK’s Fotini Yennimata – an MP and daughter of a former socialist minister – at 38.2 percent. New Democracy’s Yiannis Tzanetakos came second at 24 percent, followed by ultra conservative Giorgos Karadzaferis at 10.3 percent and Manolis Glezos, World War II resistance hero and veteran left-wing politician, at 9.8 percent. ND press spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos yesterday complained that «no reliable data can emerge» from «a ‘poll’ carried out by a state-supported company in the empty capital in the middle of August.» The spokesman for the conservatives, who for the past two years have been basking in the warmth of favorable popularity ratings, accused ERT of being «fully in thrall to [PASOK’s] commands.»
