Athens News Agency: News in English, 04-01-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Two new opinion polls indicate change of political climate

[02] PM winds up visit to Crete, confident of victory in March 7 elections

[03] Gov't to continue its work until Feb. 9-12, Protopapas says

[04] Greek president receives IMO secretary general

[01] Two new opinion polls indicate change of political climate

Two new opinion polls appearing in newspapers on Friday indicate a substantial change in the political climate in Greece following the decision for a change of leadership in the ruling PASOK party.

The results of the polls, conducted by Metron Analysis and Opinion, were printed in the Athens dailies TA NEA and ELEFTHEROTYPIA, respectively.

Metron Analysis poll

The Metron Analysis poll appearing in TA NEA was conducted between January 10-14 on a nationwide sampling of 1,416 citizens.

According to the results of that poll, 40.1 percent of respondents stated that they would vote for main opposition New Democracy party (ND), 37.6 percent for ruling PASOK, 4.9 percent for the Communisty Party of Greece (KKE), 2.2 percent for the Coalition of the Left and Progress (SYN), and 1 percent for the Democratic Social Movement (DHKKI). The difference between ND and PASOK has narrowed to 2.5 percentage points from 6.8 percentage points in the previous poll conducted by the same company.

With respect to which party was expected to win the March 7 elections, 45 percent of respondents felt that ND would win, against 38.1 percent who felt that PASOK would emerge the victor, again marking a substantial narrowing of the difference vis-a-vis the previous poll.

On the question of who was most suited for prime minister, 46.9 percent of respondents said George Papandreou (PASOK foreign minister, who is slated to take over the helm of the party), against 41.7 percent who said Costas Karamanlis (ND leader).

With respect to who had more prestige abroad, 73.4 percent of respondents said Papandreou, against 16.3 percent who said Karamanlis.

Regarding who inspired more conficence, 45.4 percent said Papandreou, against 37.6 percent who said Karamanlis.

On who was more friendly, 50.2 percent said Papandreou, against 37.8 percent who said Karamanlis.

To the question on who had better associates, 41.1 percent said Papandreou against 34.3 percent who said Karamanlis.

As for who had the better prospects for the future, 46.5 percent said Papandreou, against 35.3 percent for Karamanlis.

On the question of who was more frank, 37.7 percent said Papandreou, against 34.0 percent for Karamanlis.

To the question who cared more for the people's problems, 34.6 percent said Karamanlis, against 33.0 percent for Papandreou.

Voter rallying in ND was 89.1 percent, against 82.1 percent in PASOK.

The poll further recorded a substantial lead in popularity among young people by Papandreou, while Karamanlis was more popular in the larger age brackets.

OPINION poll

The poll conducted by OPINION appearing in ELEFTHEROTYPIA newspaper took place between January 8-14 in a nationwide sampling of 1,601 voters over 18 years of age, with an error margin of +/- 2.4 percent.

According to the results of the poll, 40 percent of respondents said they would vote for ND, 37 percent for PASOK, 4.9 percent for KKE, 2.8 percent for SYN, 1.7 percent for (George Karatzaferis') LAOS, and 1.6 percent for DHKKI.

By gender, 39.1 percent of men and 41 percent of women would vote for ND, while 37.5 percent of men and 36.6 percent of women would vote for PASOK.

PASOK led in preference in the 18-54 age bracket, while ND led in the 55-65+ age groups.

PASOK was leading in Athens, Thessaloniki and the major urban centres, whereas ND was leading in the semi-urban and rural areas.

With respect to education level of respondents, ND led among those with elementary and secondary schooling, while PASOK led among those with a higher education.

To the question on who was more suited for prime minister, 45.7 percent of respondents said Papandreou, against 41.6 percent for Karamanlis.

Regarding who was anticipated to win the elections if they were held tomorrow, 45.6 percent said ND against 41.1 percent who said PASOK, indicating a narrowing of the margin from the previous opinion poll conducted by the same compamy, which had shown 51 percent for ND and 32.5 percent for PASOK.

Also, 67.2 percent of the respondents said they were absolutely sure of whom they would vote for, while 14.4 percent were rather certain and 7.1 percent were not at all certain.

[02] PM winds up visit to Crete, confident of victory in March 7 elections

Prime Minister Costas Simitis concluded his visit to Crete on Friday and, speaking during a luncheon given in his honour by the mayor of the municipality of Kazantzaki, expressed confidence that the ruling PASOK party will win the general elections on March 7.

Earlier, Simitis visited Arkalohori and mentioned Foreign Minister and PASOK leadership candidate George Papandreou, saying that the party will win the elections under his leadership.

Replying to an address by the mayor of Kazantzaki, Rousos Kypriotakis, the prime minister said he is satisfied and proud of the fact Greece has entered a new era with momentum and views the future with greater optimism, adding that the country must continue on this course since it is something Greek society desires and it will send this message in the March elections.

[03] Gov't to continue its work until Feb. 9-12, Protopapas says

Government spokesman Christos Protopapas on Friday announced that Parliament will break up between February 9-12, while stressing that the government will continue to operate as usual until that time and continue to bring legislation to Parliament.

The bills currently being brought to parliament had arisen after a lengthy social dialogue and referred to policies that had been announced and from which the Greek people had gained, he added.

He also commented on the departure of PASOK press spokeswoman Chryssa Arapoglou, saying that she had chosen to concentrate on her campaign to be elected to Parliament given that she would soon be forced to drastically reduce her appearances under the law.

[04] Greek president receives IMO secretary general

President of the Republic Kostis Stephanopoulos on Friday received International Maritime Organisation (IMO) chief Efthimios Mitropoulos, who was recently elected secretary-general of the London-based organisation and is in Athens at the invitation of Greece's merchant marine minister George Paschalides.

During talks with the Greek president that were also attended by Paschalidis, the IMO secretary-general briefed Stephanopoulos on international shipping issues and practices that should also be adopted by Greek shipping.

Stephanopoulos was particularly interested to learn the size of the of the Greek and Greek-owned commercial fleet and the number of Greek seamen working on Greek ships.

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