Greece:New Democracy and Syriza parties neck in neck

The last polls before polls ceased showed that the left Syriza party and the right of center New Democracy party were quite close. The very last poll showed Syriza ahead but only slightly. The elections are on June 17.

Syriza rejects the austerity plan negotiated by New Democracy and PASOK the socialist party who before were a coalition. However Syriza wants Greece to stay with the Euro as do most Greeks even those who reject the austerity provisions. New Democracy is in favour of the bailout plan. Neither party will probably have a majority on their own. However whomever comes first gets 50 extra seats which will make it easier for them to form a coalition with another party. New Democracy may be able to make a deal with PASOK as before but this is not at all certain. Syriza may be able to enlist the help of the Democratic Left or perhaps the Communist Party. However last election the Communist Party showed no sign of wanting to joing a coalition. For more see this Al Jazeera article and the attached video