Greek Opposition Party Leader Gives Speech Before Few Supporters

The Greek New Democracy party leader Evangelos Meimarakis gave a pre-election speech on Thursday in Athens in front of a small crowd of supporters that began to disperse before the politician finished his address, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

ATHENS, (Sputnik) — The speech at Omonia Square by the Syriza party’s main rival in upcoming elections was broadcast by the Greek ERT1 television channel.

On Friday at 6:00 p.m. local time (15:00 GMT), former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will address the Greek people on Athens' central Syntagma Square ahead of the elections scheduled for Sunday.

"On the eve of the [previous] elections on January 25, a similar address by Tsipras attracted twice as many people, which filled one of Athens’ central streets close to the mayor’s office. So now the cameras shown Meimarakis and the group of people in the frame were fake supporters," an eyewitness told the correspondent.

According to the eyewitness, the small crowd came to see that New Democracy's leader is not as popular as Tsipras.

Greek voters will elect a new legislature on September 20, following Tsipras' resignation in August which triggered early parliamentary elections. Tsipras seeks to secure a mandate backing the unpopular austerity reforms his government agreed to in exchange for a third bailout from Greece’s international creditors.