Greece exit poll shows Syriza ‘marginally’ ahead
FORMER Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s leftist Syriza party was marginally ahead of its main rival, conservative New Democracy, as voting ended, an exit poll showed.
A combined poll from five television stations said Syriza would get between 34 and 30 per cent of the vote yesterday, with New Democracy in a range of 32.5 to 28.5 per cent.
That range left the door open for New Democracy to win but suggested it would be a struggle.
If the result holds, a coalition would be needed for a government to be formed.
Tsipras has been hoping that the vote would give him a second chance to lead the country. He called for snap elections barely nine months after his Syriza swept to power last January.
But the jubilation felt earlier in the year has been overshadowed by the harsh reality of Greece‘s economic crisis.
Opinion polls in Greece indicate millions of the country’s voters were undecided before yesterday’s polls.
The last voter surveys forecast victory for Syriza over Vangelis Meimarakis, head of the conservative New Democracy party, by margins ranging from 0.7 to three percentage points, the AFP news agency reported.
Both Tsipras and Meimarakis wrapped up campaigning on Saturday.
Tsipras resigned last month forcing early elections.
He won January’s poll on an anti-austerity ticket, but had to accept economic reforms in exchange for a $96bn bailout package from Greece’s international creditors.
With nine parties hoping to enter parliament, whoever wins is unlikely to secure an outright majority and may need to form a coalition.
Tsipras agreed to the eurozone bailout after 61 per cent of Greek voters in a July referendum overwhelmingly voted against an earlier offer that insisted on austerity measures
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