Union of Centrists

A new opinion poll conducted by MRB puts conservative New Democracy 9.8 percentage points ahead of leftist SYRIZA and finds that seven in 10 do not support the recent Macedonia name deal.

According to the nationwide survey, which was conducted on a sample of 2,000 people, if elections were held now ND would garner 31 percent of the vote and SYRIZA 21.2 percent.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on Monday was to start briefing party leaders on the progress of his talks in Vienna last week with his counterpart from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Dimitrov, on ongoing United-Nations mediated talks on the "Macedonia" name issue.

A public opinion poll published by Pulse late on Tuesday night saw incumbent leftist SYRIZA trailing 10 percent behind the main opposition New Democracy party.

The poll, which was conducted for Action24 TV, found that 29 percent of respondents would vote for conservative New Democracy if elections were held now, against 19 percent who would back SYRIZA.

As thousands of protesters rallied in Athens and Thessaloniki on Monday, Parliament approved the prior actions included in an all-inclusive bill which the leftist-led coalition government hopes will be the last significant batch of spending cuts and reforms the country has to implement before its bailout program ends in August.

A new public opinion poll carried out by the University of Macedonia for Skai puts conservative New Democracy 13 percentage points ahead of leftist SYRIZA, which leads the ruling coalition.

According to the findings of the survey, 30.5 percent of voters would back ND if elections were held now compared to 17.5 percent for SYRIZA.

Conservative New Democracy's lead over ruling SYRIZA has expanded to 14 points, according to the first opinion poll published since the Greece's main political rivals appeared at the Thessaloniki International Fair earlier this month.

A large number of leftist SYRIZA MPs silently expressed their opposition on Wednesday to the approval of right-wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) MP Dimitris Kammenos, who is known for his anti-Semitic and homophobic statements, as a deputy speaker of the House.

The government’s communication effort to give a positive impression to the Eurogroup agreement does not seem to be working that good. According to a survey by PRORATA of the “Newspaper of the Editors”, the Greeks see only the painful measures and disregard the prospect of Greece finishing the economic program.

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras is scheduled to brief the leaders of the Greek political parries on Monday and Tuesday on the results of the June 15 EuroGroup meeting. Mr. Tsipras is expected to meet today at 6pm with the leader of “Potami” party Stavros Theodorakis, while at 7pm he will see the president of the centrist party “Union of Centrists”, Vassilis Leventis.

Recent meetings between New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the leaders of minor opposition parties have cemented his profile as the frontman of Greece's pro-European parties, at the time when the political isolation of the country's left-wing prime minister is deepening, conservative officials have told Kathimerini.