With the leadership elections of the 22nd of November approaching, the tension amongst the four candidates is escalating, while SYRIZA is being accused of interfering into the election process.
The bitterness between the four candidates is causing a schism within the party, with some party officers debating the possibility of avoiding a second round of elections, which could cause further polarization.
Two of the candidates – Adonis Georgiadis and Apostolos Tzitzikostas – have openly accused SYRIZA of ‘stating its preference’ and taking advantage of ‘rigged opinion polls’. Both argued that SYRIZA is promoting a certain candidate – whom they do not, however, name – in order to serve its purposes and remain in power.
Meanwhile Kyriakos Mitsotakis has distanced himself from these allegations, simply stating that he does not trust opinion polls, in light how they failed to make predictions with any degree of accuracy in recent electoral showdowns. Given that there are many variables in the party election, such as the number of voters, opinion polls are risky at best.
New Democracy’s provisional leader – and candidate who according to the polls is in the lead – Evangelos Meimarakis has so far avoided entering the debate on the opinion polls.
