Greek voters enraged by economic hardship deserted governing parties in droves at elections on Sunday, according to exit polls that raised deep uncertainty about the country's future in the euro zone.

Polls by six different pollsters indicated the only two parties supporting an EU/IMF bailout that is keeping Greece from bankruptcy would likely fall short of enough support to form a lasting coalition government.

Greece's conservative New Democracy party was leading in Sunday's election with 15.3 percent of the vote counted. The socialist PASOK party was in third place, trailing the anti-bailout Left Coalition party.

The exit polls showed conservative New Democracy and Socialist PASOK, who have dominated Greece for decades, reaching a maximum of 37 percent of the vote combined - right on the lower margin of what experts say would be necessary to form a stable government.

PASOK, which took 44 percent of the vote in a landslide victory in that election, was shown with between 14 and 18 percent, according to polls by Kapa Research for Reuters and a pool of five companies for Greek television stations.

New Democracy also appeared particularly hard hit with a vote share of 20 percent or below, compared to opinion poll predictions of around 25 percent.

In another indication of the extent of public anger, the extreme right Golden Dawn party was shown by the polls taking an unprecedented 6-8 percent of the vote. This would allow such a party to enter parliament for the first time since the fall of a military dictatorship in 1974.

If confirmed by official results, the election could plunge Greece into new political turmoil, reigniting a euro zone debt crisis first detonated by Athens in 2009 and starting it down a path that could take it out of the euro.

Several analysts said the unprecedented fragmentation of the vote could force another election.

"If exit polls prove to be true we are looking at days or weeks of instability and uncertainty. We might well have a repeat election," said Blanka Kolenikova of IHS Global Insight.

"This election was suppose to punish major parties and if they didn't manage to get a majority it was a punishment vote indeed," she said.

A New Democracy source said the party was not considering asking for repeat elections if it finished up as the largest party.

The exit polls showed Greeks fuming at record unemployment, collapsing businesses and steep wage cuts had ignored warnings that a vote against the harsh terms of the bailout would push Greece towards bankruptcy.

VAVD wrote:


The exit polls showed Greeks fuming at record unemployment, collapsing businesses and steep wage cuts had ignored warnings that a vote against the harsh terms of the bailout would push Greece towards bankruptcy.

But Greece is already bankrupt.Loading more debt on top of debt and imposing austerity measures that shrink the economy is no solution,it is a road to feudalism.And it sounds like a path we have seen before.Now,when did that happen?

I wish Atlantic were here to guide us through the death of the EU.

poupon_le_french wrote:

I wish Atlantic were here to guide us through the death of the EU.

. . . . . I believe that Atlunatic's real identity is Francois Hollande...and his first act as President will be to destroy FuckFrance.

Fuck Alunatic and all the peons of the eurotardzone.

Cheap Greek holidays will be back soon, bring on the Drachma

Stay close and wait Linh Linh will cook us up something good soon
Pitpig wants it to more chinese than one admits!