Parliament – Zach. Zoupis (Opinion Poll): Reposition Strategy and Opinion Poll are two companies of the same owner

The curtain for the examination of witnesses in the Parliamentary Inquiry Committee fell with the testimony of the general director and political analyst of Opinion Poll, Zacharia Zoupi, given that the majority has rejected the testimonies of politicians requested by SYRIZA and the parties of the opposition.

The general manager of Opinion Poll, Zacharias Zoupis, during his testimony today stated that “all the results of all investigations have their own signature and the owner of the company is simply informed afterwards”. He clarified that Opinion Poll is neither a parent nor a subsidiary of Reposition Strategy, they are just two separate and distinct companies in their work, owned by the same owner and housed in the same building.

Reposition Strategy, said to be older, has a lifespan of about 18 years, while Opinion Pool has a history of 11 to 12 years. There is no “group”: Reposition Strategy works as a business consultant for technical programs, as a consultant for project maturation, implementation of European programs and also has a call center, while Opinion Poll is a purely research and political communication company.

Opinion Poll is registered in the register of the ESR, the European organization ESOMAR, the American association of companies WAPOR and SEDEA “because we believe in the value of controls”.

Regarding the controversial poll of May 31, 2021, questioned by SYRIZA, the General Manager of Opinion Poll claimed that it was audited by the supervisory body of SEDEA along with others, and as it was found in its conclusion, it was correct. Asked why the company itself did not request a poll and from the Independent Polling Control Commission, he replied with the argument “because someone will complain that I am an elephant, will I go to my doctor to tell me that you do not have elephants?” . We, he said, when the issue arose, went to our institution, SEDEA, and asked him to check this investigation as well. He found it right and for us it ended there. If SYRIZA or someone else wanted, he could ask us to be checked by the independent committee. I believed, he said, that “SYRIZA made the complaint about the complaint, and that he cared more about all the noise that was created, than the substance”.

Mr. Zoupis denied that the identity of the specific investigator was not stated, claiming that we mentioned that it was Opinion Poll itself – and this is proven, both by the post that the company made on the same day on its site, as and the 200 shipments of the survey, made that day to our subscribers, as well as the copy of the survey submitted to SEDEA, as we are obliged. For confirmation. of his claim, he said that the copy of the poll sent to SEDEA has a protocol number, so this can not be disputed. Also, there are the traces of the 200 emails with which the recipients received the research, as it is also stated in an informative site, which published it that day and everyone can do it with an internet search.

He disagreed that this poll tied “Ceausescu percentages” to the government and that it had large deviations from the rest of the polls, submitting a series of polls by other companies that recorded almost the same percentages between ND and SYRIZA. In fact, he said that this particular poll by Opinion Poll was worse in percentages for the prime minister, both in the question of “popularity” (as he recorded losses of 6 points for him) and in the “intention to vote”, which were two to two and a half points more below what Kyriakos Mitsotakis seemed to be receiving a year ago.

Asked why the company may have accepted the criticism of the poll, he said: “One thing I think is that something went wrong – which I do not realize. The second is that we were considered an easy target because we do not work with a channel “Such criticism would also indirectly call into question the validity of the channel.”

He noted that Opinion Poll has done hundreds of surveys and “it is not possible to risk a credibility course for a poll.” in the run-up to the European and national elections, and two years later there is this controversy.

Asked whether the allegation of a possibility of manipulation is not reasonable since the owner of the popular company is also the owner of another company that receives projects from the State, Mr. Zoupis answered the question by saying: “If there was no Reposition Strategy and during ’21 Opinion Poll had received 300,000 euros in investigations from various public bodies, would not a question arise again? “. He reminded that “when the contractor Mr. Kalogritsas was a key and exclusive shareholder in a polling company, then, no issue of legality was ever raised!” In fact, he called on anyone who wants to seek, through Diavgeia, the assignments of projects that have been made to research companies all these years by ministries, noting that Opinion Poll has not received any in these 2.5 years.

Mr. Zoupis wondered how it is possible for the investigation to be sent on May 31, to be made public that day and the next day, on June 2, the SYRIZA MPs to submit the proposal to the Committee on Institutions and Transparency to be called, and on the 3rd of the month , Elias Nikolakopoulos to be interviewed on the radio station “Sto Kokkino” and to say that I am not in SEDEA, so I do not accept checks, so we should not take the reliability of the investigations very seriously “. are done by pressing a button “.

Asked why he sent an out-of-court settlement to Ilias Nikolakopoulos, and not to the vice-president of SEDEA, Mr. Mavroos, who testified yesterday to the examination committee, that the identity of the investigator was not mentioned, and this is a serious misconduct, Mr. Zoupis replied that that Mr. Nikolakopoulos said harmed the prestige of the company and its credibility, while it is not the same as what Mr. Mavros mentioned. Besides, when Mr. Nikolakopoulos rebuilt, the dispute we had ended.

Asked if Opinion Pool has conducted polls on SYRIZA in the past, he said that “indeed in ’17 we did two surveys on SYRIZA” and generally had a good working collaboration with Mr. Bernardakis on a professional level, as well as exploratory discussions on cooperation. with an adviser to a top minister at the time, but which “froze”.

The announcement of the deputies of ND

The ND MPs – in a statement, commented on the testimony of the CEO of Opinion Poll, stating: of public opinion which led to the targeting of Opinion Poll.

The CEO of the company, Zacharias Zoupis, in his testimony to the parliamentary examination committee, revealed the fake news that Koumoundourou used to set up her communication game, named the people who “starred” and asked questions about his favorable attitude. of the official opposition party against the Vox pop company that gave its measurements to Documento.

The witness completely deconstructed the argument about the “unsuitability” of the Opinion poll that was at the center of a wave of mud to serve the party interests of SYRIZA. As he revealed, his company had a client, the powerful minister, Christoforos Bernardakis, confirming a publication with which the specific company had been deemed suitable by the SYRIZA party to implement its measurements.

Continuing the revelations, the witness stressed that the Opinion Poll, which is now dragged by the official opposition party as “inappropriate”, carried out two measurements for Koumoundourou, but there was a long delay in their repayment. The witness hinted that this delay and the pressure of the polling company to get its money, may have created a problem in relations with SYRIZA.

It is clear that the case is boomeranging for Alexis Tsipras’s party, as the witness provided specific information about contacts that took place with a representative of a first-class minister of the SYRIZANEL government for a package of 20 polls. But an agreement that was abruptly canceled when Opinion Poll was still showing big differences in favor of ND before the 2019 national elections.

An additional strong “paper” that “burned” SYRIZA’s narrative, was the attitude of analyst Elias Nikolakopoulos, who initially accused the company of not being a member of SEDEA, despite the fact that Opinion Poll had initiated all proceedings and was pending. the formal confirmation. It was the same period, as the witness stated, that the company was attacked by SYRIZA, causing “shadows” and strange associations for its credibility. Zacharias Zoupis stated that after the lawsuit he filed against the “national pollster” Ilias Nikolakopoulos, his reconstructive statement followed, which essentially proved that the whole narrative was based on fake news. The deposition also recorded the “unthinkable” as he characterized it, four-month delay of control of Vox pop by the competent audit authority, headed by Elias Nikolakopoulos.

It is clear that SYRIZA went for wool and came out with a haircut. The dust that he raised to build the building of the examination committee was dissolved, and the truth shone by exposing Koumoundourou and her conspiracies irreparably “.

The statement of the deputies of SYRIZA – PS

The deputies – members of SYRIZA-PS for their part, commented on the testimony of the managing director of Opinion Poll, stating: of the Opinion Poll, was crowned with absolute failure!

Mr. Zach. Zoupis, scientific collaborator of the company, fully justified the proposal of SYRIZA-PS. for the establishment of the examination as:

– He stated that he does not intend to move either criminally or civilly for false testimony against the vice president of SEDEA Dim. Mavrou, who testified under oath that the notification of the principal was absent from the disputed poll of 31 -5-21.

– The same goes for the deputies of N.D. who, acting as ombudsmen for Opinion Poll, sought to downplay or ignore Black’s testimony.

– He confirmed that both the polling company and the Reposition Strategy, which, by direct assignment and extra-institutional, after Pierrakakis intervention took over the project of 270,000 euros, belong to the same owner, namely Mich. Diamantis, whom Maximou “hid”.

The investigation dropped the curtain without the politicians involved, the critical witnesses and without the basic documents requested by the opposition and the N.D. refused.

They did everything to prevent the truth from coming to light, but they failed. Despite its unacceptable methods, the validity of the SYRIZA-PS proposal. for the establishment of the Examination was fully justified. If they think that they will cover up the scandals, they are mistaken. The rest in the plenary “.

Source: AMPE