A voter casts his ballot at a polling station in Athens.
Photo: REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis
June 18, 2012 - 6:07AM
The pro-bailout New Democracy party has come in first in
the Greek election, and its leader has proposed forming a pro-euro
coalition government.
In claiming victory, New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras
said "the Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European
path and in the eurozone".
He said voters chose "policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security".
His party beat the anti-bailout Syriza party, which wanted to cancel Greece's international bailouts.
Syriza chief Alexis Tsipras, a 37-year-old former
communist who has shot from obscurity to global celebrity in a matter of
weeks, has conceded defeat in the election.
Although no party has won enough seats to form a new
government on its own, the polls indicate the country's two traditional
parties - New Democracy and Pasok - will have enough seats to form a
coalition together.
An official projection released by the interior ministry
showed conservative New Democracy taking 29.5 per cent, with the radical
leftist Syriza bloc just behind on 27.1. The Pasok Socialists were set
to take 12.3 per cent of the vote.
Because of a 50-seat bonus given to the party which comes
first, that result would give New Democracy and Pasok 161 seats in the
300-seat parliament, in an alliance committed to a 130 billion euro
($164 billion) EU/IMF bailout keeping the country from bankruptcy.
"I am relieved," a smiling Samaras told Reuters, leaving
his office to joyous chants from supporters. "I am relieved for Greece
and Europe. As soon as possible we will form a government."
Samaras said in a speech that the country would honour its commitments to its euro zone partners.
"The Greek people voted today to stay on the European
course and remain in the euro zone... there will be no more adventures,
Greece's place in Europe will not be put in doubt," he said.
The result, however, exposed a deeply divided society,
and could leave an emboldened Syriza leading new protests against a
coalition governing with significantly less than 50 per cent of the
electorate's support.
Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos called for a government
that would include Syriza , but the radicals ruled out joining a
coalition that would stick to the punishing bailout terms that have
helped condemn Greece to five years of record recession.
Tsipras had vowed to tear up the terms, betting that
European leaders cannot afford the financial market turmoil that could
be unleashed by cutting a member of the euro zone loose.
The projection was based on votes counted on the spot at
about 12 per cent of polling stations and sent to the ministry via text
message.
It proved highly accurate in an earlier May 6 election,
which produced stalemate, though the figures are subject to a margin of
error which leaves a degree of uncertainty. Earlier exit polls produced a
similar result to the government projection, giving New Democracy and
Pasok 159 seats combined.
Greece's lenders say a new government must accept the
conditions of the bailout - on top of a 110 billion euro package in 2010
- or funds will be cut off, driving Athens into bankruptcy.
A Greek euro exit has the potential to unleash shocks
that could even break up Europe's single currency and plunge the global
economy into chaos. The result will dominate a meeting of the Group of
20 world economic powers in Mexico today.
Central banks from major economies stand ready to take
steps, including coordinated action, to stabilise markets if the
election triggers a financial storm or public panic, G20 sources told
Reuters last week.
They may well not be needed.
The euro hit a three-week high against the US dollar,
rising to around $1.2730 in early Monday trade, from around $1.2655 late
in New York on Friday. It hit its strongest since May 22 according to
Reuters charts.
"What stands out is how close Syriza came... so we expect
some robust opposition to the austerity measures," said Daragh Maher,
currency strategist at HSBC in London. "Markets will be concerned about
how narrow the margin of victory was for ND and any gains in the euro
and other markets will be limited."
Last chance
The ultra-right Golden Dawn party looked set to win 18
seats, underscoring the fragmentation of a society wrestling with
unemployment of almost 23 per cent and plummeting living standards.
The traditional ruling parties of New Democracy and the
Pasok Socialists are accused by many Greeks of presiding over decades of
corruption and waste which have left them with a ruined economy and one
of the heaviest debt burdens in the world.
Five years of recession and more than two years of acute
crisis have started to fray the edges of Greek society, undergoing its
severest test since the overthrow of the military dictatorship in 1974.
The streets of central Athens are scarred by repeated
waves of protests, some hospitals are short of vital medicines and
reports of suicides caused by the crisis have become routine.
Samaras has called for an extra two years to make the
cuts demanded of his country. But Greece's euro zone peers are prepared
only to tinker with the deal and then only with a government firmly
committed to the bailout.
"There can't be substantial changes to the agreements but
I can imagine that we would talk about the time axes once again, given
that in reality there was political standstill in Greece because of the
elections, which the normal citizens shouldn't have to suffer from,"
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on German TV station ARD.
"But there is no way out of the reforms. Greece must stick to what has been agreed," he said.
Opinion polls show Greeks, weary and disillusioned after
five years of deep recession, overwhelmingly favour remaining in the
euro and just as opposed to the austerity drive.
"I voted for the bailout because these are the terms that
will keep us in Europe," said 66-year-old English teacher Koula
Louizopoulou after casting her ballot in Athens, hinting that she had
chosen New Democracy.
"It's the first time I feel depressed after voting,
knowing that I voted again for those who created the problem, but we
don't have another choice," she added.
