Greece's ruling socialists remain more popular than the conservative opposition, slightly widening their lead despite belt-tightening measures to repair public finances, a poll showed today. Austerity policies to secure continued EU/IMF funding under a bailout package agreed in May, including cuts in public sector pay and VAT increases, have hurt the government's popularity. The poll by GPO for Mega TV showed Prime Minister George Papandreou's PASOK socialists leading the opposition conservatives by 5.1 percentage points. PASOK would come first with 25.2 per cent of the vote were an election to be held now, versus 20.1 per cent for the conservative New Democracy party. Some 29.4 per cent of the respondents would either not vote, cast a blank or invalid vote or were undecided. The communist party ranked third with 8.5 per cent, followed by the far-right LAOS party with 6.2 per cent. A previous survey by GPO in November showed 29.7 per cent support for PASOK and 24.8 per cent for New Democracy, giving the socialists a lead of 4.9 percentage points. The poll also showed that 60.5 per cent of those surveyed believed that the real governance of the country was in the hands of the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank -- dubbed the troika -- with only 34.2 per cent saying the government was in control. The next general election is due at the end of 2013.
