Gre. Ruling Party Narrows Poll Gap After Reshuffle

It has since seen its popularity plunge due to tough economic policies and a series of scandals.

Greece's ruling conservatives have narrowed the opposition Socialist's poll lead after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis dismissed the finance minister and two deputy ministers linked to an investigation this week.

Two opinion polls published by newspapers on Sunday showed Karamanlis's New Democracy party had cut the opposition's lead to around 3 percentage points, from over 5 percentage points in December, despite the worst rioting in decades last month.

In a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, Karamanlis dismissed finance minister George Alogoskoufis, whose tax rises and privatisation policy have angered many ordinary Greeks.

He also replaced two deputy ministers linked to an investigation into a government property deal with an Orthodox monastery, which prosecutors say cost taxpayers over 100 million euros.

A survey by pollsters MRB, published in weekly Eleftheros Typos, showed 32.3 percent of people would vote for the opposition PASOK party compared to 29.3 for New Democracy.

The newspaper said the reshuffle was the main reason for the improvement in the government's ratings. The nationwide poll of 1,005 people was conducted on Jan. 8, a day after the reshuffle.

The ruling party won re-election in 2007 with a slim majority, only months after strong criticism of its handling of deadly summer forest fires which killed more than 60 people.

It has since seen its popularity plunge due to tough economic policies and a series of scandals which have forced the departure of three ministers.

Three weeks of riots after the Dec. 6 police shooting of a teenager were fuelled by public anger at high youth unemployment, privatisations, education and pension reforms and worsening economic prospects.

A poll in Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday showed 74 percent of those questioned said it was correct to dismiss Alogoskoufis.

A third poll for Proto Thema newspaper confirmed the narrowing in the gap between the two parties, putting PASOK ahead by 3.0 percentage points on 31.2 percent.