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A new opinion poll on voting intentions for European Parliament elections shows leftist opposition SYRIZA ahead of conservative New Democracy by 2.5 percent.

By Costas Iordanidis

Three days before Greeks vote in the country’s second round of local elections, along with those for the European Parliament, the political system appears to have dropped the ball. The main reason is that municipal and regional candidates – especially in Athens and the Attica region – are seeking to extract Golden Dawn’s share in the runoff vote.

Former Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday urged voters to back New Democracy in Sunday’s local and European Parliament elections.

The ex-premier and New Democracy chief noted that the party's strength would safeguard "the country's necessary political stability."

People read newspaper headlines featuring the results of the first round of local elections, in central Athens, on Monday.

People walk in front of European Parliament election posters of the Greek leftist SYRIZA party in Athens on Friday. Up to 350 million Europeans are eligible to vote in elections to the European Parliament taking place on May 22-25 in all 28 EU member states.

SYRIZA is half a percentage point ahead of New Democracy in terms of popularity ahead of the May 25 European elections, though the conservatives are 1.4 percent more likely to get reelected if general elections were being held now, a poll by GPO conducted on behalf of Mega television channel showed on Tuesday.

With just a week to go before local authority elections and two weeks before elections for the European Parliament, party leaders ratcheted up their campaigning over the weekend as new opinion polls put New Democracy, which leads the ruling coalition, and the left-wing opposition SYRIZA neck and neck.

A new opinion poll on voting intentions for European Parliament elections shows leftist opposition SYRIZA ahead of conservative coalition leaders New Democracy by 2 percent.

Conducted by Pulse for the weekly To Pontiki newspaper, the survey will be published on Friday.

By Alexis Papachelas

Thirteen days ahead of local elections and 20 days ahead of European Parliament elections, coalition partners New Democracy and PASOK are seeking to galvanize their party base to secure results that will dampen leftist opposition SYRIZA’s calls for a snap national vote.