Greece: New Democracy Party Leads Syriza In Polls

Greece's center-right New Democracy party has a slight edge among voters over the Coalition of the Radical Left, or Syriza, ahead of the June 17 parliamentary elections, according to a new opinion poll.

New Democracy leads Syriza 23.1 percent to 21 percent, according to Alpha TV's survey of 1,027 Greeks.

This means that if the elections were held now, New Democracy would take 123 of 300 seats in the Greek Parliament, giving it a majority if it formed a coalition to the leftist Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or Pasok party, which could take 21 seats and shares similar views with New Democracy on Greece's budget problems, Bloomberg reported. The first-place party gets an automatic 50 extra seats under the Greek system.

Politics in Greece today are split not only between the left and the right wings, but also between pro- and anti-bailout parties. New Democracy supports the 240 billion euro ($306 billion) rescue packages being offered Greece, as well as the austerity measures required by foreign lenders, while Syriza bitterly opposes them.

Failing to meet the budget requirements set forth by the European Union and International Monetary Fund could ultimately mean result in Greece's expulsion for the euro zone.

June's elections will be a repeat of parliamentary elections held earlier this month, and were called by President Karolos Papoulias after parties failed to form a coalition government. Syriza finished a surprising second place in the May 6 elections.