Politics

The polls for the local and regional elections will be held at a politically "neutral" time, in that the country won't be facing a major situation where a lot is at stake.

As such, it is an opportunity for voters to focus on the essentials when it comes to making their pick of candidates. 

Greece's conservative New Democracy party held a commanding lead in Sunday's parliamentary election, an exit poll showed, with former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis set to clinch a second term in office.

The first exit poll by Kapa Research after Sunday's general elections, shows that Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his party have likely secured a safe outright majority to form a single-party government.

Greeks went to the polls on Sunday for the second time in little over a month to elect a new parliament, with voters expected to give former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservatives a second term in office.

New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis called for a stable government for the next four years from the polling station in Kifissia, where he voted.

"Citizens and democracy are the focus today, it is a day of joy and responsibility. We are voting for the second time in just a few weeks so the country can have a stable and efficient government with a four-year horizon," he said.

New Democracy, SYRIZA and PASOK closed the election race on Friday with different goals in view of Sunday's ballot.

For conservative ND, the main goal is to secure a comfortable outright majority in the region of 158 seats. It believes that the votes of young people and voters who live in areas other than their constituencies are key to achieving this.

The long pre-election period and the clear result of the May 21 ballot may have created a sense that Sunday's vote is something of a formality. This is far from the case. 

In fact, this election is more important than the last one because it will determine whether the country will have a government for the next four years and how it will be governed. 

Conservative New Democracy enjoys a 21.5 percentage point over its main rival, leftist SYRIZA, according to a new opinion poll.

Conducted by Marc for ANT1, the poll put New Democracy on 39.5% and SYRIZA on 18%.

Istanbul's popular mayor is leading demands for a major change in the main opposition Republican People's Party - as another test in the form of local elections fast approaches.

The most likely outcome of Sunday's election is a victory by New Democracy with a percentage that will allow it to form a government by itself.