Greeks have been
voting in a general election that looks set to result in a change of
government.
Syriza campaigned on a
pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece's European Union bailout, rejecting
harsh austerity measures and calling for much of the nation's massive debt to
be written off.
It has been speculated
a Syriza victory could lead Greece to default and even to an exit from the
eurozone. Amid fears other struggling countries could follow the same path, the
EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have called on Greece to keep to its
bailout deal.
A Syriza win would
represent another turning point for Europe after 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.
Polls opened at 7.00am
(4:00pm AEDT) and are due to close at 7.00pm (4:00am AEDT Monday), with 9.8
million Greeks eligible to vote.
The first exit poll is
expected immediately after voting ends. 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, which is led by 40-year-old Alexis Tsipras, a lead of up to 6.7
points with 31.2 - 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 Samaras.
