Some 8 out of 10 Greeks want to stay in eurozone, debt deal with lenders

The overwhelming majority of Greek citizens wants the signing of a new debt deal with international creditors to avert default and Grexit, an opinion survey showed on Saturday, as Eurogroup was convening for a meeting in Brussels that was expected to determine Greece's future.

By 75 percent Greeks want the achievement of a debt agreement and by 84 percent they want Greece's stay in the European common currency zone, according to the poll carried out by Metron Analysis polling firm for local newspaper "Parapolitika" (Behind the scene politics).

A 77 percent of respondents appeared optimistic that a deal will be reached in the coming hours, while 14 percent were pessimistic.

According to the survey if general elections were held today, the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA party of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would win again with 38.5 percent of votes.

Main opposition conservative New Democracy party would follow with 19.1 percent and the centrist Potami (River) with 5.3 percent. The ultra-Right Golden Dawn would rank fourth with 4.3 percent of votes, while the socialists of PASOK would win 4.2 percent and the Communist party KKE 3.8 percent.

The results were released as Greece's creditors were examining the draft deal proposal Greece submitted this week in exchange of a 53.2 billion euros (about 59 billion U.S. dollars) third bailout program through the European Stability Mechanism until 2018.

After six months of negotiations Greece was given a clear public ultimatum on Tuesday to either sign a deal or face imminent default and the start of the countdown to Grexit in the euro zone and EU summits scheduled for this Sunday.