GREECE-ELECTION/SAMARAS RALLY Samaras urges Greeks not to throw away economic sacrifices

Record ID: 215648

  • Title: GREECE-ELECTION/SAMARAS RALLY Samaras urges Greeks not to throw away economic sacrifices
  • Date: 23rd January 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (JANUARY 23 2015)(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SAMARAS SHAKING HANDS WITH SUPPORTS AT END OF RALLY
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA55SYZPOTYRHOD3LJVT5UGM1YD
  • Story Text: Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told supporters on Friday (January 23) not to waste the efforts already made to clean up the economy by voting for the anti-bailout Syriza party which polls predict are poised to win Sunday's (January 25) snap elections.
    Upon arriving at the theatre, when asked what his message was, he replied: "It's a message of hope. OK? Because Greece has to go ahead and win, stay in Europe."
    Samaras's Conservatives face a tough uphill battle to convince Greeks who have been hit by four years of wage and pension cuts to stick with painful reforms.
    "We eliminated the deficit. Greece no longer has a need for borrowing because growth has begun, unemployment has begun to recede. Of course, there is still a long road ahead of us but month by month the numbers are steadily dropping," Samaras told cheering supporters at the Tae Kwon Do Theater in Athens.
    "Who do the Greek people want as the captain at the helm? "Who do they want as a captain during the difficult hours?" he said.
    Samaras reminded voters of the progress achieved in the last years by his coalition government, which managed to put an end to recession and bring the country back to growth and a surplus after four years of a debt crisis.
    He vowed gradual tax breaks, pension increases and an end to austerity, but warned that a Syriza government could destroy everything that had been achieved in the last years with its policies of re-negotiatiing the bailout agreement.
    "They [Syriza] are threatening to toss all the sacrifices of the Greek people and all those of the country into the air, and to drive us into an accident we must avoid. Tsipras is the accident and we won't do them the favour of letting this happen," told the large crowd.
    Samaras has based his campaign on the dangers the public faces with a Syriza government just as the economy was starting to recover, including a possible exit from the euro zone.
    All polls show Syriza in the lead and inching towards the numbers needed for outright victory as its message of cancelling austerity and securing a debt write-off attracts austerity-weary Greeks.
    Responding to journalists questions about Syriza's latest poll lead, Samaras said one in five of the electorate were yet to decide which way to vote; but he conceded that many of the undecided came from his party.
    "Well, I believe that one out of five is still undecided and these people mostly come from our ranks and this is very important. Well, the undecided voters want a Europe united, they want growth, they want stability, they want orientation towards things that...but in other words, they want what we absolutely believe in and have worked on and therefore we go right on," he said upon leaving.
    Supporters waved Greek flags and chanted "Here comes the prime minister!" inside the stadium
    "We hope Greece will remain in Europe because it is something that..it's the best for this country," said 18 year-old university student Eleni Alevropoulou.
    "We hope New Democracy will win because we hope the country will move forward," said Nikos another young supporter of New Democracy.
    Tsipras has vowed to end austerity and renegotiate the economic agreement with lenders the EU and IMF, causing concerns that Greece will not keep its promises and be pushed out of the euro zone.
    Syriza has widened its lead over the ruling conservatives to 6.7 percentage points from six points previously, a survey showed on Friday, two days before a national election.
    The survey by GPO for Mega TV showed Syriza taking 33.4 percent of the vote, ahead of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' New Democracy party which would take 26.7 percent of the vote.
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