News Digest

Greece begins voting in make-or-break election with leftists Syriza set for win

Greece began voting Sunday in a crucial general election that could bring the anti-austerity Syriza party to power and lead to a re-negotiation of the country’s international bailout. Syriza, led by 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras, leads the incumbent conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras by around four points, according to pre-election opinion polls. Some 9.8 million people are eligible to vote. Polling stations close at 1700 GMT, followed immediately by the results of exit polls. Tsipras wants to renegotiate Greece’s massive $356 billion debt and end the wage cuts and public spending reductions linked to its bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund. The possibility of a victory for the radical left-wing party has sparked fears that Greece could default on its debt repayments and quit the group of 19 countries using the single European currency - a so-called “Grexit”.

We are voting for Alexis Tsipras to put an end to this misery. Enough is enough! We won’t let them destroy our children.

Stavroula Gourdourou, an unemployed mother who will vote for Syriza for the first time

While Syriza is expected to form the biggest group in the 300-seat parliament, it is unclear if it will be able to govern alone or have to form a coalition with one or more of the smaller parties. Final polls on Friday gave the party led by 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras a lead of up to 6.7 points with 31.2 to 33.4 per cent of the vote, close to the level needed for an outright victory. Three out of four polls showed Syriza widening the gap over the centre-right New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samara. Syriza would need around 40 per cent of the vote to be guaranteed a majority but it could win with less depending on how well other parties perform. If not, it may need to form a coalition with a small party such as the centrist To Potami, the center-left PASOK or the anti-bailout Independent Greeks or form a minority government, relying on ad hoc support from other parties.