Poll after presidential elections

The poll was published hours after Prime Minister Antonis Samaras lost the first round of the vote by a larger-than- expected margin, in a disappointing result for his conservative - center left coalition ahead of two more rounds of voting this month.

The survey conducted by Marc for Alpha TV showed support for the anti-bailout SYRIZA at 28.5% versus Samaras's New Democracy party, which would get 24.9%, if elections were held now. The co-ruling PASOK party would get 4.8 %.

Neonazi Golden Dawn party is in third place with 5.8%, followed by the Communist party (5.4%), The River (5.4%), PASOK (4.8%) and Independent Greeks (3%). A small portion of those polled (7.8%) are still undecided.

The telephone survey of 1,002 households, conducted on Dec. 14-17 nationwide, showed that 56.1% of Greeks prefer to see a new president elected by parliament versus 40.4% who favor snap elections.

According to all indications by polls conducted this week, after the PM's announcement to push the presidential vote earlier, the gap between SYRIZA and New Democracy is narrowing, with polarization turning the race all the more close.

SYRIZA held a five-point lead over the ruling conservatives, according to a survey conducted on Dec. 8-9 by pollster ALCO.