New parliamentary elections are being held this Sunday. Polls suggest the New Democracy party is widely expected to win against the left-wing opposition.
ADVERTISEMENTSince no party was able to form a government last May, Greece returns to the polls on Sunday, 25 June.
The legislative elections could see the conservative New Democracy party surpass the crucial 40 per cent threshold of the vote. This would give it an absolute majority in the Assembly, and it would not need to form alliances to govern.
After its defeat at the polls in May, the main opposition party, the left-wing Syriza, is at risk of another, even more bitter failure.
Greece's new electoral law of proportional representation makes it difficult for any party to win an outright majority in the 300-member parliament to form a government on its own, meaning current Prime Minister and New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis might have needed to find a coalition partner.
However, there are advantages to not doing this, and New Democracy has indicated it would prefer to seek a clear win in a second round of voting and be able to govern on its own.
Andreas Drimiotis, a well-known observer of Greek electoral life, told Euronews: "New Democracy will achieve an absolute majority with 160 seats, regardless of the number of parties entering parliament".
He added, "Syriza voters are disappointed and see that there is no prospect of coming to power so that the party will get an even smaller percentage."
During this short pre-election period, the main topics have been immigration, particularly the recent tragedy off the coast of Pylos, and economic issues, which are still a headache for Greek voters.