Poll lead for Greece's Syriza narrows as Tsipras presses for new mandate
Former Greek premier Alexis Tsipras urged supporters on August 29 to give him a fresh mandate to complete the country's political transformation, as polls showed his leftist Syriza party's lead slipping ahead of elections next month.
Tsipras abruptly resigned last week, days after clinching an 86 billion-euro (US$97 billion) bailout package from Greece's euro zone and International Monetary Fund lenders, aiming to crush a rebellion by far-left lawmakers and tighten his grip on power.
Hopes the lenders might soon resolve differences over how to tackle Greece's existing debt rose on August 29, when IMF head Christine Lagarde told a Swiss newspaper a form of restructuring rather than outright forgiveness should enable the country to cope. Euro zone creditors, notably Germany, have ruled out a writedown
But Tsipras' gamble in calling early elections, to be held on Sept. 20, could backfire, opinion polls suggest - with most Greeks disapproving of his decision to seek a fresh mandate and how he handled the talks with creditors.
Syriza led the opposition conservative New Democracy party by as much as 15.2 percentage points in May. But the gap has been gradually whittled down since and it dropped to 1.8 points in an MRB poll for weekly Agora published on Saturday.
Other polls also showed the lead narrowing, suggesting momentum may be shifting towards New Democracy. An Alco poll for Sunday's Proto Thema newspaper showed the gap between Syriza and New Democracy has shrunk to just 1.5 points.
"At the start of the race towards the Sept. 20 vote, the game looks open to all outcomes," the paper said.
Another poll by Kapa Research for August 30's To Vima newspaper gave Syriza a wider lead - 27.3 percent against 24.2 percent for the conservative opposition - with 57.5 expressing a negative view on how the leftist government handled negotiations with the country's international lenders.