ATHENS, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Most Greek citizens prefer the government to call snap elections according to a new survey released on Wednesday, ahead of the confidence vote scheduled for later this evening at the parliament.

The survey, carried out by MARC polling firm published in "proto.thema.gr" news site, revealed that 64.5 percent of Greeks want immediate elections after the departure of the Independent Greeks (ANEL) party from the ruling coalition, while a 29.7 percent support the government's choice to seek a confidence vote.

ANEL party, which has been the junior coalition partner along with the radical left SYRIZA party for the last four years, withdrew from the government over the Macedonia name deal on Sunday.

Athens and Skopje reached the deal this June to resolve the long-standing dispute between the two neighboring countries over the use of the name Macedonia.

Under the deal, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) will be renamed Republic of North Macedonia and the road to its accession to EU and NATO will open.

In the same opinion poll, 2 out of 3 Greeks were against the Macedonia name deal, with a 69.6 percent of the respondents replying that it would be negative for Greece.

Meanwhile, according to another poll presented by Opinion Poll polling firm, Greece's main opposition New Democracy (ND) party carries on the lead over the ruling SYRIZA party.

The center-right party was given a 15-percentage-point lead over SYRIZA in terms of voters' preferences. Should national elections be held now, ND would win the 31.5 percent of votes, while SYRIZA would garner 16.5 percent, according to the poll. Enditem

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