Greece's ruling New Democracy party remains the country's dominant political force but is facing mounting pressure from a rapidly emerging opposition movement led by former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, according to two new opinion polls released on Thusday.
A nationwide survey conducted by pollster ALCO for news website Flash.gr showed New Democracy at 24% in voting intentions, up marginally from 23.5% in the previous poll. The party, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, retained a clear lead but continued to poll well below the levels that delivered it a comfortable electoral victory in 2023.
The biggest gains were recorded by the Hellenic Social Alliance, or ELAS, the new political formation headed by Mr. Tsipras. The party climbed to 14.7% from 12.8%, consolidating its position as the country's second-largest political force and widening its lead over the traditional center-left opposition.
PASOK, Greece's long-established socialist party, edged up to 10.4% from 10%, while the Communist Party of Greece remained unchanged at 6.4%.
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By contrast, Hope for Democracy, the anti-establishment movement led by Maria Karystianou, registered the sharpest decline among the parties surveyed, slipping to 7.8% from 9.5%.
The conservative Hellenic Solution party rose modestly to 6.7%, while the left-wing Course of Freedom stood at 3.1%. Former governing party SYRIZA continued its dramatic decline, polling at just 1.3%, down from 1.5%.
A significant share of the electorate remains uncommitted. Undecided voters and respondents who said they would abstain accounted for 15.7% of those surveyed, down from 17.3% in the previous poll. ALCO stressed that the findings represent a snapshot of public sentiment during the June 22-26 period and do not constitute an election forecast.
A separate poll conducted by MARC for broadcaster ANT1 painted a similar picture. In its projected election outcome, New Democracy was estimated to win 30.5% of the vote, maintaining a sizeable lead despite signs of erosion in its support base.
ELAS was projected at 16.5%, while PASOK and Hope for Democracy were tied in third place with 10.5% each. Hellenic Solution was estimated at 7%, followed by the Communist Party at 6.5% and Course of Freedom at 5.3%.
The MARC poll's raw voting-intention figures, before reallocating undecided voters, showed New Democracy at 26.8% and ELAS at 14.3%, with PASOK and Hope for Democracy both at 9.2%.
The two surveys suggest that while Mr. Mitsotakis' party remains firmly ahead, Greece's opposition landscape is undergoing a significant realignment, with Mr. Tsipras' return to frontline politics reshaping the balance of power and further fragmenting an already divided opposition camp.
