A new poll by VPRC tonight has Syriza as the biggest Greek Party with 30% of voting intentions, followed by New Democracy on 26.5%, while Pasok continues to languish at 12.5%. But there were disturbing reports of military discussions with the caretaker government.
Opinion polls in Greece are about as stable as flies in a hurricane, but there is now a real possibility that the Left in Greece could put together a majority Coalition. With the Democratic Left at 7.5%, and the Communist Party at 5.5%, those together with Syriza would add up to 43%. And Louka Katseli – a former PASOK minister who now leads the small leftist party Social Pact – today threw her weight behind Alexis Tsipras.
If this critical mass can be hyped by Syriza, then Tsipras really could be the next Greek Prime Minister. As he supports the idea of Greece remaining in the eurozone, the markets might well view his accession positively. But whether they do or not, a Syriza victory would be certain to put the moral and commercial onus back onto the Troika.
However, it became clear today that President Karolos Papoulias had received the caretaker government’s Defence Minister Frangos Frangoulis, along with the leadership of the country’s armed forces, for talks at 2.30 p.m. No details of the discussions have as yet come to light, but in an obvious move to make his position clear, Alexis Tsipras visited the Defence Ministry headquarters, where he condemned previous governments for spending excessively on arms – and expressed solidarity with armed forces employees who have seen their salaries and pensions cut due to the Troika austerity measures.
The Slog 