Greece’s conservative New Democracy party was ahead of the radical leftist SYRIZA party in Sunday’s pivotal election, an updated exit poll of five pollsters showed.
The final poll showed New Democracy taking between 28.6 percent to 30 percent of the vote, while SYRIZA was just behind with 27.5-28.4 percent. They were followed by the PASOK Socialists taking 11-12.4 percent of the vote.
That would give New Democracy and PASOK, which back the bailout, a slim majority of 159 seats in the 300-seat parliament.
SYRIZA had pledged to tear up the terms of an EU/IMF bailout package keeping Greece from bankruptcy, raising fears the country could end up crashing out of Europe’s single currency.
New Democracy and PASOK broadly back the bailout.
Following is a breakdown of the parties with the share of vote according to the poll:
ND 28.6-30
SYRIZA 27.5-28.4
PASOK 11-12.4
Independent Greeks 6.8-7.8
Golden Dawn 6.5-7.1
Democratic Left 5.8-6.6
KKE 4.8-5.6
Source: Reuters
