Greece votes in first election since int’l bailout spending controls ended

Athens: Exit polls in Greece’s parliamentary elections show Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ conservative party is in the lead but is unlikely to win enough seats in parliament to form a government outright.

If official results bear out the exit poll indications, Mitsotakis will have to seek coalition partners to secure a majority in the 300-seat parliament.

If coalition talks fail, a second election could be held in late June or early July.

Exit polls showed Mitsotakis’ main rival, former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his left-wing Syriza party, in second place.

Sunday’s election is Greece’s first since its economy ceased being under strict supervision by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during the country’s nearly decade-long financial crisis.

Greeks were voting Sunday in the first election since their country’s economy ceased to be subject to strict supervision and control by international lenders who had provided bailout funds during its nearly decade-long financial crisis.

Greek officials have pledged fast results about 90% of the precincts should have reported by 10 p.m. local (1900 GMT), three hours after the voting ends, Dimitris Bakakos, general manager of IT services firm Singular Logic, which is tasked with presenting the results, said in a television interview, adding that, by 8:30 pm, there should be enough data to predict the result within half a percentage point.

The vote pitches conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, a Harvard-educated former banking executive, against 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, who heads the left-wing Syriza party and served as prime minister during some of the financial crisis’ most turbulent years, as the two main contenders.

Mitsotakis has repeatedly stressed that he needs a second term to build on what he says he accomplished during the first. He pressed the same line when he talked to media after casting his vote.

“Today, we vote for our future, for higher wages, for more and better jobs. We vote for a more effective public health system, for a fairer society, for a stronger country, which plays an important role in Europe, with protected borders.”

Tsipras, unsurprisingly, painted a bleaker picture of the present government’s record and emphasized the need for change.

“Today is a day of hope. The citizens have in their hands the possibility ... to change the course of the country, to leave behind a difficult four years of inequalities, injustice, profiteering, job insecurity, auctions, indignity for pensioners, the targeting of the youth. To leave behind an arrogant government that does not feel the needs of the many,” he said, also promising “a new ethos and style of governance.”

The rising cost of living was at the forefront of many voters’ minds as they headed to polling centers set up in schools across the country.

“Every year, instead of improving, things are getting worse,” said Athens resident Dimitris Hondrogiannis, 54, “Things are expensive. Every day, things are getting out of control. It’s enough to make you afraid to go to the supermarket to shop. “

Hondrogiannis said he hoped for a stable government that would help reduce prices for food and general goods. “People cannot make ends meet,” he said. Although Mitsotakis has been steadily ahead in opinion polls, a newly introduced electoral system of proportional representation makes it unlikely that whoever wins the election will be able to garner enough seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament to form a government without seeking coalition

partners.