Greek leftist party Syriza maintains lead in polls two weeks before snap election

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek leftist opposition party Syriza's lead in the polls over the ruling conservatives remained stable ahead of snap elections due in two weeks' time, three surveys showed on Saturday. According to a poll by pollster Alco, Syriza, which opposes Greece's international bailout program, would garner 33.1 percent of the vote, versus 29.7 percent for the party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, a gap of 3.4 percentage points. Support for both parties fell slightly compared to the survey carried out by the same firm last week, when the gap came in at 3.3 percentage points, according to the weekly Proto Thema newspaper. A poll conducted by Kapa Research for To Vima newspaper showed Syriza was 2.6 percentage points ahead of Samaras' New Democracy party, compared to its 2.5 point lead in a poll last month. A third poll, conducted by MRB for the Agora newspaper, showed Syriza's lead stood at 3 percentage points from the 3.2 point lead it had in last month's poll by MRB. According to MRB's latest poll results, the party would gain 28.1 percent of the vote, compared to 25.1 percent for the center right New Democracy party. If undecided voters, who totaled 16.5 percent of those surveyed, were added to Syriza's count, the leftist party would garner 33.7 percent of the vote, which would secure the party 143 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament, just short of an outright majority. Samaras' party would receive 30.1 percent. A fourth poll by Pulse for Eleftheros Typos newspaper showed that Syriza's lead over conservatives was stable at 3.5 percentage points compared to a previous poll published on Wednesday. Greeks are due to vote on Jan. 25 in an election that is being watched closely across Europe where there are concerns about another standoff between Athens and the rest of the euro group, should Syriza win. Some investors fear the tension could lead to Greece leaving the euro zone, prompting EU officials to state publicly in recent days that a 'Grexit' is not on the agenda. Here is a breakdown of recent opinion poll results: Date Poll Syriza ND Potami GD KKE Pasok IG DL MDS 10/01 *Pulse 30.5 27.0 6.0 6.0 5.0 6.0 3.0 - 2.5 10/01 Kapa 28.1 25.5 6.5 5.4 5.0 5.2 2.6 - 2.8 10/01 *Alco 33.1 29.7 4.8 4.5 3.9 4.2 2.4 - 2.6 10/01 MRB 28.1 25.1 5.7 4.5 4.8 4.6 2.6 0.9 2.4 09/01 Marc 29.6 26.4 5.6 5.5 5.0 3.8 2.7 - 2.6 09/01 Rass 29.8 27.1 5.0 5.2 4.8 3.4 2.4 - 2.2 09/01 Metron 34.1 30.0 8.4 5.6 5.3 4.1 3.5 - 2.8 * 07/01 *Pulse 30.5 27 6.0 6.0 5.5 6.0 3.0 - 2.5 07/01 GPO 28.5 25.3 5.8 5.4 5.7 5.0 2.7 - 2.6 07/01 *Alco 33.8 30.5 4.5 4.4 4.1 3.9 2.4 - 2.7 04/01 Rass 30.4 27.3 4.7 3.8 4.8 3.5 2.5 - - 30/12 UOM 29.5 25 5.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 0.5 - 29/12 Marc 28.1 25.1 6.1 5.9 5.4 4.6 3.0 1.0 - 28/12 Alco 30.3 26.7 4.7 5.6 4.5 4.9 3.2 - - 28/12 Kapa 27.2 24.7 5.8 5.5 5.8 6.1 2.5 - - 23/12 Marc 28.3 24.8 5.8 5.7 5.3 4.5 3.3 1.2 - 17/12 Marc 28.5 24.9 5.6 5.8 5.6 4.8 3.0 1.4 - 15/12 GPO 28.0 23.1 5.1 5.0 5.5 5.1 2.7 - - 15/12 MRB** 24.2 21.0 5.7 4.5 5.0 5.5 2.8 1.5 - * Poll result excludes abstaining voters to project how the poll data would translate into an actual vote result. ** MRB poll was conducted after the government brought forward a presidential vote last month. ND: conservative New Democracy party Syriza: Radical Left Coalition party GD: far-right Golden Dawn party IG: right-wing Independent Greeks party PASOK: Socialist party KKE: Communist party DL: Democratic Left party MDS: Movement of Democratic Socialists UOM: University of Macedonia (Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Costas Pitas and Dominic Evans)