Focus on coalition horse-trading as Greek election looks unlikely to deliver a strong winner

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Sunday’s Greek parliamentary election looks likely to be a dress rehearsal for a new round of voting in the busy summer tourist season. That’s barring a surprise coalition deal by dissonant opposition parties. Opinion polls indicate that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ center-right New Democracy party could gain about 35%, some 6 percentage points ahead of leftwing Syriza led by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras. That wouldn’t be enough for ND to govern alone. Sharp divisions between the two main contenders and the four smaller parties forecast to enter parliament all but preclude a functioning coalition under either ND or Syriza. A second election on July 2 is seen as likely. Here’s a glance at Sunday’s main candidates.