Greeks like their new PM but not his government

Reuters , Friday 9 Dec 2011

Two new polls shows public acceptance for Greece’s technocrat PM Lucas Papademos, while 80% of respondents distrust his 49-member cabinet

Papademos
Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos (R) arrives at an European Union summit in Brussels December 8, 2011. European Union leaders will discuss proposals for tighter euro zone integration on December 8-9, with the aim of bringing deficits and debt much more strictly into check, a move that may give the European Central Bank room to step up purchases of sovereign bonds and reassure financial markets. (Photo:Reuters)

Greeks like technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos but deeply distrust his coalition government made up of career politicians, two polls showed on Friday.

Papademos's popularity rose to 60 percent in December from 55 percent last month, according to a survey by pollster Public Issue published in the newspaper Kathimerini.

The three-party government led by Papademos, a former European Central bank vice president, was installed last month to implement a bailout deal for the debt-laden country before leading it to elections, tentatively set for Feb. 19.

But Greeks distrust Papademos's 49-member cabinet consisting of party politicians from the former ruling Socialist PASOK, the conservative New Democracy and the far-right LAOS parties.

More than 80 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the government, according to Public Issue, which conducted a telephone survey of 1,008 people on Dec. 1-5.

In a separate poll by Metron Analysis published in newspaper "Eleftheros Typos", just 32 percent of respondents said they had a positive view of Papademos's government, even though the premier himself was the country's most popular political figure.

New Democracy would win elections if they were held today but it would fail to secure an absolute majority in the country's 300-seat parliament, Public Issue said, confirming earlier surveys. New Democracy would win 30 percent of the vote yielding between 123 and 136 seats, according to the pollster.  

Short link: