ANKARA
Outgoing Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' Syriza party is now tied with opposition conservative party New Democracy in the latest polls for the upcoming elections on Sept. 20.
If Syriza does not win a majority in parliament in these elections, Tsipras may not be asked to form a new government. That role could fall on New Democracy leader Evangelos Meimarakis.
Both parties support the bailout agreement with Greece's creditors. But Tsipras said in a speech on Sunday that he would "try to improve" the agreement, which his party made in a reversal of its electoral mandate to oppose the bailout.
Tsipras said that he would seek debt relief for Greece and to restore the right for workers to have collective bargaining agreements, a measure that creditors oppose.
Tsipras is faced with a rebellion by the left wing of his party, as more than 30 former Syriza MPs have left it to join the Popular Union party, which opposes the bailout.
Meimarakis, for his part, said on Sunday that he would invite Syriza to form a coalition with his party if neither won a majority after the election.
“I believe in consensus and cooperation,” Meimarakis said in a Bloomberg television interview on Sunday. “We have proven throughout these years that when it’s for the good of the country, for safeguarding its place in the euro area, we’re willing to cooperate.”
Speaking on Vima FM radio on Aug. 31, former Syriza minister Nikos Voutsis said that a coalition with an opposition party could be necessary. Voutsis insisted that a follow-up election, which could come should there be a failure to form a government, must be avoided at all cost as the delay could hold up the disbursement of bailout funds that the government badly needs.
Greece has agreed to a three-year, €86 billion ($95.5 billion) bailout, which is conditional on the Greek government's enacting a series of far-reaching economic reforms.
