SYRIZA and ND face off as newcomer steals support

With European and local authority elections looming, the political exchanges between co-ruling New Democracy and the main leftist opposition SYRIZA have intensified even as a new party casting itself as anti-establishment appears to be drawing support from both parties, according to opinion polls.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou on Monday accused SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras (photo) of “attempting to undermine the national effort with evident and reprehensible ulterior motives.” In comments on ANT1 television channel, Kedikoglou added that the leftists’ “conspiracy theories” were “beyond all logic.”

He was responding to comments by Tsipras in an interview published in Real newspaper over the weekend in which the leftist accuses the government of using “creative accounting” in its calculations of a primary surplus – the bulk of which Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has insisted will be distributed to low-income Greeks despite troika reservations.

Meanwhile a newcomer to Greek politics appears to be stealing support from the voter base of both parties, with opinion polls over the weekend showing To Potami (The River), a center-left initiative set up by the television journalist Stavros Theodorakis, as attracting between 7 and 8.8 percent of the vote.