The ban on polls is not working
The ban on the publication of polls predicting the outcome of voting in the last two weeks of the general election campaign has not brought the desired results. Quite the opposite, in fact. A firestorm of speculation has swept through Greek society regarding those surveys that are supposedly conducted in private but whose results everybody seems to have heard or is talking about. As a result, voters have been exposed to a wave of misinformation about what levels of support each party is getting, who might win and who looks set to lose. This is misinformation that is often propelled by ulterior motives. At the same time, the current electoral law also stops foreign news outlets from publishing the findings of local opinion polls. Opinion polls in this country, like most other institutions here, are suffering from a lack of credibility. However, instead of solving this problem, the decision to ban the publication of public surveys only renders the voting public hostage to speculation and rumors.
