New Democracy (ND) leader Evangelos Meimarakis returned to his native Irakleio, Crete on Wednesday for a campaign rally on the same day as the first opinion poll indicated laser-thin lead for his party against leftist SYRIZA.

Meimarakis, a veteran conservative MP and minister for decades, called for a strong mandate for his party. He’s also expected to run in ND’s ballot for Irakleio, a play on his Cretan background.

Earlier, from Lasithi prefecture, the ND leader called for a vote of confidence for a center-right government, and not a punitive vote that witnessed radical leftist SYRIZA take power and “cost Greece 90 billion euros”, as he said.

In referring to Irakleio, he reminded that his main rival, SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras, uttered the now infamous prediction that “markets will dance to our tune” following a SYRIZA election victory.
Other Meimarakis highlights:

— “We brought the country to the European family and we kept Greece in the euro zone”
— “We won’t accept taxation on our farmers, as SYRIZA has signed”
— “Crete shows the path of growth and creativity”