The main opposition party, PASOK which is led by George Papandreou will win the Greek national elections and should win enough seats to govern in its own right, according to exit polls released after voting closed at 7pm local time.
According to the exit poll released by Greek national television broadcaster ERT, PASOK has secured between 41 and 44 percent of the vote, translating into a majority of between 151 and 159 seats in Greece’s 300 member parliament.
In terms of smaller parties, the exit poll indicates that the Communist Party of Greece’s (KKE) has secured between 7.3 to 8.3 percent; Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) parliamentary alliance has secured 3.9 to 4.9 percent; Popular Orthodox Rally (LA.OS) has seured between 5 to 6 percent; and, the newly formed Ecologists-Greens party has secured between 2 to 3 percent
If the results of the exit polls are accurate, the Ecologists-Greens will be on tenterhooks waiting to find out whether it will meet the 3 percent threshold required to enter Parliament.
These results are also borned out by exit polls conducted for SKAI TV and Reuters.
The Skai TV exit poll showed PASOK with 41 percent and New Democracy with 35 percent while the Reuters exit poll showed PASOK with 42.5 percent of the vote and New Democracy with 36.4 percent and 99 seats.
Politicial reactions
“We have convinced Greek voters with the strength of our program,” senior PASOK party member Theodoros Pangalos told Greek TV.
New Democracy officials said the result was far from official. If the small Ecologists party manages to make it into parliament with three percent as required — exit polls showed although they were close they would not make it — the seat tally of all parties would be reduced.
“We must wait for the real results to see if PASOK can have an absolute majority,” said New Democracy general secretary Lefteris Zagoritis.
PASOK needs at least 43 percent of the national vote to guarantee an overall majority.
Forty seats are automatically awarded to the leading party and the remaining 260 are divided by proportional representation.
If no party wins outright, President Karolos Papoulias will ask the leader of the largest party to try to form a coalition government. If that fails, new elections will be called.
