Tsipras and his supporters say they are aiming to capture an outright majority of seats in the new parliament, hoping that the new Syriza, shorn of its hardliners, will attract enough moderate voters to more than make up for the defections.
This will be difficult to achieve, experts say.
The first major opinion poll since elections were called, published Friday in the left-leaning Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper, showed Syriza as the most popular party, with 23 percent saying they intend to vote for it. That was down from 26 percent in early July.
The second-biggest party, the conservative New Democracy, appears to be catching up, with 19.5 percent of the intended vote, up from 15 percent in July.
The poll was conducted by the ProRata company on Aug. 25-26 with a sample of 1,000 people nationwide and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Much will depend on Tsipras, who is personally quite popular. Greeks feel that, although he agreed to the tough budget austerity measures in the new bailout, he did what he could to convince creditors to ease the terms. He also enjoys an image as a down-to-earth politician who dismantled the old, established parties that led the country into financial ruin six years ago.
source:washingtonpost.com
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 