According to ANA, during a meeting with accredited reporters and party representatives at the interior ministry yesterday, Singular Logic executives pushed back the time when a ‘safe estimate’ would emerge by nearly two hours (originally 9:30 p.m.), blaming the unusual circumstances of these particular elections.

Also, a definite answer regarding which parties will pass the 3% threshold to enter Parliament should be expected until very late into the night. They also clarified that obtaining such a ‘safe estimate’ (with a small deviation of around 0.5%) will depend on whether they have a response from 50% of the sample in 5,000 polling stations chosen at random and representative of the 56 electoral constituencies.

Concerning security issues, Singular Logic stressed that the system was absolutely secure and had successfully prevented attempted attacks by hackers in the previous election in 2009 without any problems at all.

Singular Logic, will offer its services at a cost of 2.5 milion euros, compared to 3 millino in 2009, Tassos Giannitsis, Interior Minister said, at a press conference Tuesday.

Greece will pay 20 percent less to hold a general election on May 6 than it cost in 2009, as the government tries to cut down on spending in a second year of austerity measures, according to Bloomberg.

This is clearly reflected in the campaigns of the two major parties that focused on branding techniques, putting the two politicians in the middle of their messaging systems. As specialists in both parties missed the opportunity to offset austerity measures by suggesting policies that could improve every daily life of citizens, so did campaign managers who decided to focus on ‘governmentability’ and ignore simple solutions that citizens could keep in their minds when they will approach the ballot box.

In this respect, current election campaigns seem to aim at the survival of the old, presenting parties engaged in a crisis-generated power game. They focus on party leaders, instead of issues and they still use old tools to deal with an unprecedented situation. What’s more, they continue to resist modernisation of party structure and culture.

Analysing the persuasion system adopted during the pre-election period, certain things are more than evident; for instance: bespoke solutions for citizens’ real problems remain absent from the campaigns of major parties; moreover, analysis of policies misses anecdotes and case studies, and has no reference to specific results.

Campaigns tend to focus more on the need for a mandate, instead of adopting honest and engaging approach. “Give me strength to change everything”, says ND leader Antonis Samaras, echoing the exact wording of George Papandreou in 2009. Furthermore, the mobilisation of voters is still attempted through open rallies, whereas populism and conspiracy theories thrived.

According to experienced pollsters, the situation three days before the elections has not changed as compared with the trends explored before the ban of the opinion polls. There are no differences in the election trends. There is a large figure of undecided voters, around 30%, of whom only a third feel they have to choose between the two major parties. The bulk majority is still looking for a small party to cast their votes; and this time, their options are many.

Strong government or non-governance? Pollsters agree that the two major parties have failed to push this dilemma to voters. ND and PASOK need at least 38% of the cumulative vote to secure 151 seats in Parliament. If they fail to reach this minimum, conventional thinking says a real political crisis could follow that might lead to the deconstruction of political parties, leadership change and a period of turmoil. Only one opinion poll company supports this scenario so far.

In a closed session today, an experienced pollster described the following scenario: New Democracy wins the election and Samaras is handed the mandate; when he asks Venizelos for PASOK party’s support to form a coalition, the Socialists veto the Samaras Premiership. Then the mandate changes hands and Venizelos asks ND for support, suggesting a third person from the centre-right field to lead the government. This person’s identity could raise some interesting speculation. All sorts of negotiations depend on the dynamics that will be formulated by the difference between ND and PASOK and the performance of the smaller parties.

Pollsters agree also that a third political force should emerge to support a coalition between ND and PASOK. As an analyst put it, “one of the most bizarre things in this election is the lack of cooperation between Drasi (Stephanos Manos) and Democratic Alliance (Dora Bakoyannis). If an agreement was reached, they would surely have entered Parliament and would constitute an effective arbitrator in a ND-PASOK government scheme, much better than the role LAOS played in the Papademos government.

On May 6, two distinct electorate bodies in terms of age will appear over the ballot box. 75% of people under 45 of age will vote elsewhere but the two major parties, next to 40% of the people over the age of 50 that are expected to do the same.

This attitude more or less connotes the future of major political parties in Greece. It is no different than that of the newspaper readers that grow old with their favorite newspapers and when they die, are not replaced, since the next generation is already online.

The 2-party system seems unable to survive May 6^thwith dignity. Unless they decide to change the way they practice politics.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.com

Media reports quoting sources close to the Prime Minister as pointing out that Greece’s loan agreement with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund bind the next government to certain immediate obligations. According to Kathimerini, these include the overhaul of the tax system, the reform of the public procurement process and sweeping changes to the justice system. In total, there are some 70 requirements that have to be completed before the end of June, including the sale of Public Power Corporation lignite units.

Apart from that, any government is formed after the May 6 elections will have to agree with the EU and the IMF another 11.5 billion euros of savings for 2013 and 2014.The fact that reminders about these imminent commitments apparently came from the prime minister’s office was seen by some as an attempt by Papademos to intervene in the election campaign just days before the polls. Government sources however deny that any of the premier’s aides had made such comments.

They added that given the tense atmosphere ahead of Sunday’s vote, Papademos will simply repeat today the message he delivered last week, which is that Greece has to strive to remain in the Eurozone and the European Union. The Cabinet is also expected to approve the release to Greek banks of 18 billion euros’ worth of European Financial Stability Fund bonds that are currently held by the Hellenic Financial Stability Facility, according to Naftemporiki.gr.

According to protothema.gr, Papademos’ list of measures and structural changes includes: the privatisation of water and gas utilities, lignite energy units, highways and ports, layoffs of civil servants, sales of public enterprises, further reduction of salaries and pensions, further cuts in health benefits, elimination of tax exemptions, increase in objective real estate values and electricity bills.

The list also includes pending issues that ministers will deliver to their successors a few days after the elections.

Last Friday, party teams received results by rolling surveys, which monitored public opinion throughout the week. According to protothema.gr, figures reaffirm the climate, which had been formed before the ban of publication of opinion polls. This means that PASOK and ND unity continues to move in low levels while the sum of the two-party on voting intention barely reaches 40%. “So far Mr. Venizelos’ and Mr. Samaras’ goals are not attained”, a pollster told protothema.gr.

A trend that continues to puzzle pollsters is a continuing decrease of the percentages of major parties, a unique observation in decades, according to Naftemporiki.gr. For isntance, New Democracy seems to continue to pay Antonis Samaras’ choice to endorse Simbilidis’ candidacy. At the same time PASOK appears to find it tough to repatriate voters moving further to the left parties, (SYRIZA, Democratic Left parties). So, the inability of both parties to rally their voters leads to a closing of the gap between ND and PASOK.

Latest polling figures add up ND and PASOK percentages between 30 to 40%. Pollsters find it difficult to reach to credible conclusions, due to a big number of undecided voters, as well as unprecedented behaviors recorded amongst the electorate, .