Greece's conservative government has fallen behind the socialist opposition for the first time in years, hit by corruption allegations and a slowing economy, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis narrowly won re-election last year, weathering scandals and deadly forest fires. However, a new wave of graft accusations and tax hikes to fill budget gaps has further eroded his party's popularity.
Analysts said no single party was seen emerging victorious if elections were held now and the government was expected to hold on to power until at least next year.
"The limelight has fallen more on scandals than reforms," said Theodoros Livanios of the Opinion polling agency. "But both parties are low in opinion polls – there might be disappointment with the government but the socialists have been unable to emerge as an alternative solution."
A Metron Analysis poll showed 28.8 percent of those asked would vote for socialist PASOK compared to 26.6 percent for the ruling New Democracy, the biggest gap since the conservatives swept to power in 2004 pledging to clean up Greek politics.
"The government has lost people's trust, with the combination of scandals and the rising cost of living," PASOK spokesman George Papaconstantinou told Reuters.
ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN
New Democracy was re-elected on Sept. 16, 2007 with 41.8 percent of the vote, vowing to tackle graft and push reforms needed for Greece to catch up with its EU partners.
But a slim majority of 152 deputies in the 300-seat parliament weakened it. A slowing world economy and a huge debt, at 95 percent of the 230-billion-euro economy, has forced the government to take unpopular measures to avoid returning to the EU's list of budget offenders.
The nationwide poll of 1,000 people for ANT1 TV also showed more respondents trusted PASOK party leader George Papandreou with the economy and to fight corruption than Karamanlis.
On Friday, Karamanlis asked his merchant marine minister George Voulgarakis to resign after pressure from senior party members over allegations of improper property transactions.
The resignation came the same week that parliament approved tax rises on the self-employed and capital gains from stocks and dividends, which have prompted threats of strikes and protests by powerful unions and opposition parties.
"The government walks a tightrope between promised large-scale reforms and daily problems of behaviour by its politicians," said Dimitris Sotiropoulos, political scientist at Athens University. "There is widespread discontent."
Voulgarakis, who denied any wrongdoing, was the second minister to quit in a year.
Although polls show that neither party would win outright, both major parties have ruled out the prospect of coalitions. With the government expected to limp along, large scale reforms in areas such as social security and education, were bound to be slow, analysts said.
"This will be a year of diminished expectations," Sotiropoulos said.
