George Papandreou

Radical leftist SYRIZA led conservative New Democracy by 4.2 percent in a new poll conducted by pollster Rass for iefimeriga.gr news website, the Athens-Macedonian news agency reported on Wednesday.

The survey was conducted on January 19 and 20 with the participation of 1003 voters and also pointed to 7 parties reaching the 3 percent mark required for Parliamentary entry.

By Lefteris Papadimas & Deepa Babington

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou says his newly-formed party is open to an alliance with election frontrunner SYRIZA as long as it agrees to hold a referendum on reform policies after Sunday's election.

Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou expressed the view that his newly-established movement could form an alliance with the party leading in opinion polls SYRIZA.

Papandreou announced that he is willing to cooperate with the likely winner in the early parliamentary elections on conditions that SYRIZA agrees to hold a referendum on reform policies.

A spokesman for ex-Prime Minister George Papandreou?s party, the Movement of Democratic Socialists, implied on Friday that the former premier had proposed to PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos (photo), among other people, that he take over as prime minister in November 2011.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Thursday cast New Democracy as a Europe-oriented party, following leftist SYRIZA?s overture toward the Communist Party (KKE), as the conservative pre-election campaign shifts its focus to the center ground and undecided voters.

A fresh row broke out on Wednesday between PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and his predecessor George Papandreou, with the latter claiming that there was an effort within his party from June 2011 to unseat him as prime minister.

Greek election favorites SYRIZA on Tuesday ruled out cooperation with George Papandreou?s newly launched Movement of Democratic Socialists after the January 25 ballot, as the Communist Party (KKE) went on to snub Alexis Tsipras?s own political overture.

Opinion polls show that Greek oppositional party SYRIZA is firmly in the lead before the early parliamentary elections that are to take place on January 25.

The ruling party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras New Democracy comes second in the polls, Ekathimerini daily reports.

By Costas Iordanidis

Former Prime Minister George Papandreou did not surprise anyone by launching a new political movement three weeks before general elections. While the Papandreou clan has been known for leading developments and altering the Greek political stage, this may not necessarily be the case.

Greek anti-bailout opposition party Syriza's lead over the ruling conservatives has narrowed slightly, according to a poll conducted after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras called a snap parliamentary election for January 25.