Eight out of ten Greeks reject exit plan, snap elections: opinion polls on Astini News

ATHENS, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Eight out of ten Greek citizens reject the government's exit plan from the debt crisis, favor by a widening margin the main opposition conservatives, but do not support calls for snap general elections, according to opinion polls published in three Greek Sunday newspapers.

As Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's socialist administration struggles to tackle a crisis that led the eurozone member country to the brink of default last year, an 81.4 percent of respondents seem yet unconvinced of the effectiveness of the recipe to stability and return to growth, according to a survey of "Kappa Research" carried out for newspaper "To Vima."

According to the same survey the ruling PASOK party now trails the main opposition New Democracy (ND) party by 21.2 percent of votes to 21.8 percent. Similar surveys conducted for newspapers "Proto Thema" and "Real News" after the summer holidays, showed an ND lead of up to 5 percentage points.

Despite the shift of voters' preference and the start of a new round of protests and strikes this fall over the painful austerity and reform measures to counter the crisis, the majority of participants in all three opinion polls do not support calls for early general elections or a national unity government.

A 56.2 percent of respondents in the "Kappa Research" survey wishes to see the current government completing its four-year term in office until 2013, despite problems. The percentage against snap elections reaches up to 67 percent in the two other polls released on Sunday.