Greeks go to polls in critical snap general election

The left-wing, anti-austerity Syriza party has been leading the polls ahead of Sunday’s vote and is likely to win the general election, although the party may not gain a large enough majority to form a government.*

FRANCE 24’s Christophe Robeet, reporting from a traditionally left-wing neighborhood of Athens shortly after polls opened, said voting had got off to a slow start. “It’s still very quiet here, mostly elderly people have come out to vote. More voters are expected later today,” he explained.

“But one thing is sure – everybody here is telling us that whether they like Syriza or whether they don’t like Syriza, this is a crucial election, which will have a very big impact on the future of Greece.”

Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras, has remained firmly ahead of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' New Democracy party in the lead-up to the election, which was called two years ahead of schedule.

But those polls have also shown that a significant portion of voters remained undecided until the last minute, and suggest that Syriza might struggle to win enough parliamentary seats to form a government on its own.

Tsipras told reporters after casting his ballot Sunday that Europe must find an alternative to austerity.

"Our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity, it is the future of democracy, solidarity and cooperation," said Tsipras, who at 40, is tipped to be the country’s youngest prime minister in over a century.

Meanwhile Samaras told reporters he was optimistic given what he called the “unprecedented large number'' of undecided voters. He said they would determine the outcome.

‘Ready to try something new’

Syriza has run on a campaign of renegotiating the country’s 240 billion euro international bailout deal, and has pledged to reverse many of the reforms pushed through to qualify for the rescue loans that have kept Greece financially afloat for the past four years.

FRANCE 24’s Robeet reported from Athens that, “After five years of recession, after five years of austerity, unemployment at 25% and soaring debt, Syriza, which is presenting itself as an anti-establishment party, is riding on this wave of popular anger.

"I’ve spoken to a number of people who used to vote for the mainstream parties – including the New Democracy party – who say look, this can’t go on like this anymore. We’re ready to try and give Syriza a chance. We’re not entirely convinced that things will improve because it’s a huge gamble, but we’re ready to try something new,” Robeet said.

A Syriza victory would produce the first eurozone government openly committed to cancelling the austerity terms of its EU and IMF-backed bailout programme.

It would represent another turning point for Europe following last week's announcement by the European Central Bank of a massive injection of cash into the bloc's flagging economy after years of trying to clamp down on budgets and pushing countries to pass structural reforms.

After its most severe crisis since the fall of the military junta in 1974, Greece's economy has shrunk by some 25 percent, thousands of businesses have closed, wages and pensions have been slashed and unemployment among youth is over 50 percent.

At the same time, its massive public debt has climbed from 146 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to 175.5 percent last year, the second highest in the world.

All eyes on the seat-count

Syriza’s promise to end the crushing austerity Greeks have been living under since 2010 have wooed many voters infuriated by the deterioration in their standard of living and ever increasing tax bills.

The big question is whether any party will win the required 151 of parliament’s 300 seats to form a government alone. The Greek political scene has fractured during the financial crisis, with voters abandoning the two formerly dominant parties  the conservatives and the socialists  in favour of a smattering of smaller parties.

In their final day of campaigning Friday, both Tsipras and Samaras appealed to the undecided voters, which opinion polls put at around 10 percent in the days before the election.

Without the required 151 seats, whichever party wins will have to try forming a coalition government with another party. The first three parties each have three days to try and form a coalition government to avoid a second election being called within a month.

Polls close at 7 pm local time, with 9.8 million Greeks eligible to vote. An exit poll is expected immediately after voting ends, with the first official projections due at 9.30 pm, with results updated into the night.

(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)