The front-runners in Sunday’s election, SYRIZA’s Alexis Tsipras and New Democracy’s Vangelis Meimarakis addressed supporters on Thursday, the first in Irakleio, Crete and the second in central Athens.
Meimarakis pointed to the need for political consensus after the snap election to exit the crisis.
“We picked Omonoia square (Greek for concord) to symbolize the path we want for the country. We send a message of unity to all the Greek people,” Meimarakis to cheering supporters.
Earlier, in an interview given to the state-run news agency, he also referred to the refugee crisis and accompanying surge in irregular migrants trying to enter the EU.
Meimarakis said Greek society and the country’s economy have been exhausted, while an open border policy merely leads to an impasse.
“We need to face a genuine problem, the problem of an explosive surge of refugee flows, with a plan and kindness. We must separate refugees from undocumented migrants, taking advantage of EU resources, in order to effectively guard the country’s borders.”
On his part, SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras expressed confidence voters will again prove opinion poll predictions wrong and give his radical leftists and comfortable majority.
Tsipras again reiterated his “old” versus “new” dilemma, pointing to the conservatives as anachronistic and his leftists as the progressive force.
