Greek Far Right Support Rises

09/06/2012 | 06:05am US/Eastern
ATHENS--Greece's coalition partners have seen their popularity drop since the elections in June as they finalize the country's next round of austerity measures, according to poll results published Thursday, with ultranationalists Golden Dawn the only party to see a rise in support levels.
According to a survey prepared by Pulse RC and published in weekly To Pontiki newspaper, conservatives New Democracy--who lead the coalition government-- saw their support drop to 25% from 29.7% in the June elections.
Backing for the two junior coalition partners--Pasok and Democratic Left--also dropped. Socialists Pasok are supported by 8% of respondents, down from 12.3%, among the lowest levels seen by the party since being established in 1974. Greece's small Democratic Left party saw its popularity drop to 4.5%, versus 6.3% at the latest national polls.
The survey, conducted Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, found that the majority of Greeks are displeased with the choices made by the government which is struggling to finalize 13.5 billion euros ($17 billion) of cuts demanded by international creditors. With the savings plan expected to be announced in coming weeks, protests to proposed cuts to pensions and public servant's salaries are picking up.
Police, firefighters and port authority employees are scheduled to demonstrate in Athens Thursday afternoon after judges and public prosecutors staged a protest at the country's Supreme Court building Wednesday.
Further demonstrations are expected in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Saturday where Greece's prime minister traditionally makes a keynote economic speech at an annual trade fair. This year Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will skip the speech as the government prepares for the next round of talks with representatives of the so-called troika of creditors--the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank--starting Friday.
Among the seven parties represented in parliament, Golden Dawn is the big winner with 10.5% of those questioned in the survey saying they would vote for the far right party. It was backed by 6.9% of the electorate in June.
Radical left party Syriza remains the country's second most popular party, despite seeing its popularity also drop. The survey showed that 24% of voters support the party, down from 26.9% in June.