Alexis Tsipras, leader of Greece’s Syriza left-wing main opposition party casts his vote at a polling station in Athens
Greece voted yesterday in an early general election that could alter the course of the country’s struggle with crippling debts, with a radical left party poised to win by promising to rewrite the terms of its international bailout.
The Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras has remained firmly ahead of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ New Democracy party in opinion polls throughout the election campaign, which was called two years ahead of schedule.
But those polls also have 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.
“These elections are crucial for our future and for the future of our children,” Samaras said after he cast his ballot in a southern Greek town. “Today we decide whether we will go forward with strength, with security, with assuredness, or whether we will head into adventures.”
Samaras said he was optimistic of victory given what he called the “unprecedented large number” of undecided voters. He said they would determine the outcome.
Tsipras was mobbed by a media throng as he voted in Athens. “The Left’s time has come!” chanted a nearby pack of his party’s youth activists.
A relaxed-looking Tsipras joked with journalists jostling for quotes and photos to calm down. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for five years. You can wait for another five minutes,” he said.
“Today, the Greek people are called to decisively make the remaining step toward the return of hope, the end of fear, the return of democracy and dignity in our country,” he said outside the polling station. He said a vote for Syriza would ensure that Greece negotiated “a tough bargain to rejoin Europe on an equal basis. I am optimistic this will be a historic day.”
Syriza has promised to renegotiate the country’s 240 billion euro (USD270 billion) international bailout deal. It has pledged to reverse many of the reforms that international creditors demanded in exchange for keeping Greece financially afloat since 2010.
Syriza’s promises to end Greece’s era of crushing austerity have attracted many voters infuriated by the deterioration in their standard of living and ever-increasing tax bills. Elena Becatoros, Athens , AP
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