Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ victory in July 7 snap elections and dominant image in the country saw him selected as Greece’s top personality for 2019 in a survey by MRB, published by the Real News weekly paper.
Mitsotakis won 26 percent of the vote in the survey to again rout Radical Left SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, whom he ousted in the elections and as the two keep wrangling over policy issues and philosophies. Tsipras had 17.6 percent support.
Politics trumped sports for Greeks with the two-party leaders constant presence in the news and headlines overshadowing even the efforts of rising tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was third at 10.8 percent and NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo far back in fourth with only 5.5 percent.
Curiously, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who keeps rising tensions in the Aegean and East Mediterranean, bringing fears of a conflict, was fifth at 3.9 percent for worried Greeks.
Looking ahead to 2020, most Greeks felt Mitsotakis would rule the roost again, 25.6 percent thinking he would stay the top personality, compared to 8.2 percent for Tsipras, 7.5 percent for Tsitsipas, 6.2 percent for Erdogan, 3.9 percent for US President Donald Trump and Antetokounmpo left out altogether although he’s taken the Milwaukee Bucks to the top of the NBA standings.
The poll also found that 57.4 percent of participants don’t want an early election again, the next one due for 2023, and 7.2 percent said the newly-rekindled refugee and migrant crisis is the biggest problem as there’s a slow recovery from a near-decade-long economic crisis.
Not wanting war, 86.2 percent of Greeks worried about Turkish provocations said Greece’s political parties should use diplomacy, not gunboats to keep the situation calm to prevent conflict.
Read more at thenationalherald.com
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