ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek leftist opposition party Syriza holds a steady lead over the ruling conservatives with little over a week of campaigning left for Prime Antonis Samaras to try and close the gap before a snap election on Jan. 25, an opinion poll showed on Thursday.
Syriza would garner 31.5 percent of the vote against 28 percent for Samaras' New Democracy party, which has helped push through unpopular reforms as part of an international bailout, the survey by pollsters Pulse for Action 24 television showed.
Two previous polls by the same firm also gave the leftist party, which wants to cancel austerity measures imposed to meet the conditions of Greece's 240 billion euro bailout, a 3.5 point lead over the conservatives.
The elections in Greece are being closely watched by financial markets nervous that a Syriza victory could trigger a standoff with EU/IMF lenders that results in Greece leaving the euro zone.
If Greeks vote as the poll indicates, Syriza would receive 142 of the 300 seats in parliament, according to Pulse, short of an overall majority.
The leading party must generally receive between 36 and 40 percent of the vote to win outright, though the exact threshold depends on the share of the vote taken by parties that fail to reach the 3 percent threshold to enter parliament.
The electoral system automatically gives the winning party an extra 50 seats to make it easier to form a government.
For a graphic which charts voting intentions: http://link.reuters.com/pyc83w
(Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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