Roundup: Contenders in Greek national polls vie to sway voters in final TV debate

In the final stretch to Sunday's general elections in Greece, the two main contenders vied on Monday evening to sway voters during a final televised debate.

Former Prime Minister and leader of the Radical a Left SYRIZA party Alexis Tsipras faced Evangelos Meimarakis, President of the conservative New Democracy party at the public broadcaster ERT, as all recent opinion surveys showed that the two parties were running neck and neck falling far short of gaining absolute majority in the next assembly.

As it had happened in the first debate last week which also included the leaders of the smaller parties elected in the previous parliament, Tsipras defended his seven-month government's record requesting voters to give SYRIZA an outright majority in the new assembly to change Greece.

Responding to repeated calls of Meimarakis for the formation of the wider possible coalition government after the polls, he appeared confident that absolute majority is within reach for SYRIZA.

The former Premier dismissed the idea of a grand coalition with the conservatives as "an unnatural alliance" due to fundamental differences in key issues.

"There will either be a progressive government or a conservative government," Tsipras stressed, attempting to present SYRIZA as a new force that fights an old, corrupted status quo.

Meimarakis for his part noted that SYRIZA is not actually a new party in Greek politics and accused Tsipras of inaction in tackling corruption since the party assumed office in the January 25 general polls.

The conservative leader accused Tsipras and SYRIZA of breaking a long string of pledges made to Greek people before the previous elections and of causing more damage to an ailing economy that had started to recover.

"Tsipras and his government pushed away investors," Meimarakis said, pointing to delays in the privatization of ports and airports.

He promised to "unblock" all major projects if he is elected Prime Minister on Sunday.

"We want investments, but we expect investors to respect the laws," Tsipras replied when asked to comment on the protest of miners outside ERT's premises during the debate.

Demonstrators protested the cease of operations in a goldmine in northern Greece after Tsipras' government suspended licenses last month over environmental concerns.

Discussing the issue of his government's turn to Russia, China, Arab countries and Iran to explore cooperation prospects during the stormy marathon negotiations with IMF/EU lenders that eventually ended in Greece's third painful bailout since 2009 this summer, the Leftist leader stressed that his government was not after funding to repay loans, but investment opportunities.

Tsipras conceded that mistakes were made, but insisted that a new Left-led government can ease the burden of the new bailout program that includes further austerity and reform measures through the new negotiations over a debt relief.

Questioned about the ongoing refugee and migration crisis both leaders called for a common humane European solution.

"We are in favor of increasing maritime surveillance," Tsipras said, adding that however his party disagreed with "military-style" operations in the Aegean Sea that would put in danger lives of refugees and migrants.

In the first comments on the two leaders' performance, political analysts in Athens reminded that in Greek politics televised debates traditionally do not determine the outcome of the elections.

Ahead of the October 2009 elections, the last time two political leaders faced each other in a debate on the national broadcaster the then outgoing conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis had won the impressions over the socialist leader George Papandreou.

However, a few days later, Papandreou triumphed in the elections by an 11 percent of votes margin. Endit