Galery

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The new party of journalist Stavros Theodorakis, "To potami", has completely upturned the ratios of the political forces in Greece. Two new polls show a decline in the rates of the two major players in the current political scene in the country, "To potami" is emerging as the third political force and the percentage of those who have not decided which party they will support is two-digit.

In particular, according to the poll conducted by the The University of Macedonia of Economic and Social Sciences in Thessaloniki the main opposition SYRIZA party is holding the lead as it has the support of 18.5% of respondents. New Democracy has suffered a major decline, after being preferred by only 13.5% of respondents. "To potami" is the third political force with 13%, followed by Golden Dawn that is preferred by 9% of respondents. The Communist Party of Greece is fifth with 8%.

The coalition government partner of New Democracy, PASOK, is involved in the poll with the name of the new formation, which aims to unite the centre-left forces, Elia (Olive - editor’s note). The formation, which is not quite completed yet, is supported by only 4.5% of the electorate.

The results show the greatest decline in the support for Democratic Left, namely 2%, and for Independent Greeks 1.5%. 1.5% of respondents state they would vote for the far-left ANTARSIA party and 7.5% for another party. The highest percentage is that of those who have not decided which party they will support in the European elections, namely 21%.

The analysis of the results makes it clear that the support for Elia has been at the same level as that for PASOK in recent months which shows that the attempt to form a new centre-left party lacks the dynamics that its authors want it to have.

Commentators believe that if the poll results for the party of Stavros Theodorakis are confirmed, this will mark the beginning of major changes on the Greek political scene, especially in the centre-left space. The results of the specific poll show that "To potami" has attracted 1/3 of the voters of Democratic Left and Independent Greeks, a little more than 1/10 of those of PASOK and 1/10 of New Democracy and SYRIZA. The inflow from the voters of Golden Dawn is almost zero.

The newly formed party of Theodorakis is mainly preferred by younger voters, 6.5% of them in the 18-34 and 35-54 age groups and 7% are aged over 55 years. At the same time, 20.5% in the same age group would vote for New Democracy and 9.5% for PASOK. The supporters of SYRIZA are almost equally distributed among all age groups.

Another poll conducted by Public Issue agency at the expense of "Efimerida ton sintakton" newspaper ("Newspaper of Editors"- editor’s note) shows that SYRIZA is holding the lead in the preferences of the Greek voters, but with just 0.5%, its rate being 15.5%. It is followed by New Democracy with 15% and "To Potami" which ranks third here, with a rate of 7%. The Communist Party of Greece comes next with 5%, Golden Dawn with 4.5%, PASOK 3.5%, Independent Greeks 2.5% and Democratic Left with 1.5%.

The results of this poll show a very high percentage of voters with unclear party preferences, namely 41%.

The analysis of the poll shows that Theodorakis’ party is supported by:

- 20% of supporters of New Democracy

- 17.5% of SYRIZA supporters  

- 16% of PASOK supporters

- 3% of supporters of Independent Greeks

- 1.5% of supporters of Golden Dawn

- 10% of supporters of other parties

- 10% of people who would vote with a white or invalid ballot.

The rate of women who have expressed a preference for the new party is 8% in comparison with 5.5% for men.

13% of the members of the 35-44 age group support "To potami". Among young people aged between 25 to 34 years, the supporters of the party are 11% and among the 45-54 age group, they are 8.5%.

The rate of university graduates who trust the party is 10% in comparison with 6% in secondary-school graduates and 2% in people with primary education.

By occupation the party supporters are as follows:

- Civil workers - 17%

- Employees in private companies - 15.5%.

Significantly lower is the rate of employers and freelancers, namely 5%, of unemployed 5%, and pensioners and women who do not work 4.5%.