Athens, Greece - The current center-right government in Greece is maintaining its popularity one year after the national elections, according to a new poll.
The poll, conducted by Euronews, shows that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' Nea Demokratia party is leading the polls among Greek citizens. This is in contrast to the trend in most other European countries, where ruling parties are expected to lose ground in the upcoming EU elections.
Mitsotakis' party is far ahead of its leftist and center-left opponents, Syriza and PASOK, respectively. The distance between Nea Demokratia and Syriza candidate Stefanos Kasselakis is more than 20%.
The poll also shows that PASOK has lost the second position compared to March, but the struggle with Syriza is not over. The two parties are still running a close race.
The Greek Communist Party (KKE) is also taking part in the left's electoral competition.
In the European Parliament, Nea Demokratia is expected to gain one more seat, while Syriza and the Greek communists are expected to confirm their four seats each. PASOK is expected to provide three MEPs to the Social and Democrats group.
The Greek Solution party is also expected to grow and contribute two MEPs to the European Conservatives and Reformers Group.
The far-right Spartans movement has been excluded from the ballot for June's EU election by Greece's high court.
Some observers expected the ruling party to suffer political damage due to the alleged involvement of some of its members in the mismanagement that contributed to the train crash in Tempi valley. However, the poll suggests that the party has not been significantly affected by this scandal.
One peculiarity of the Greek part of the European elections is that the ruling party's success could be boosted by the candidacy of Fredi Beleri, an ethnic-Greek Albanian mayor detained for corruption in Albania. If Beleri gets enough votes, he will have parliamentary immunity. His case has become a popular patriotic cause that could result in a contentious tug-of-war between Greece and Albania.