Greece's leftists heading for re-election, exit poll shows

ATHENS (Reuters) - Alexis Tsipras and his leftist Syriza party looked on course to win a close-fought Greek election on Sunday, with exit polls suggesting he will be given a second chance to pull the country out of economic crisis after caving in to European demands for austerity.

His Syriza party won between 30.0 and 34.0 percent of the vote, a combined poll from five television stations published as voting closed showed. That was on course to beat the conservative New Democracy party of Vangelis Meimarakis, which polled 28.5 to 32.5 percent.

A separate opinion poll released at the same time gave similar results.

Third place in the election looked set to go again to Golden Dawn, a far right party with a swastika-like symbol. It was on track for 6.5 to 8 percent of the vote.

The result, if the exit poll is confirmed, appeared likely to leave Syriza short of a majority in Greece's 300-seat parliament. Most calculations predict it would need around 38 percent of the popular vote to win a majority.

Tsipras' preferred partner, the right-wing Independent Greeks, also looked set to get seats. Syriza would probably also need the help of one or two other small parties, such as the centrist To Potami party or the socialist PASOK.

Tsipras, who called the snap elections in August expecting an easy victory, has ruled out cooperating in a "grand coalition" with New Democracy, although such a result might be favoured by Greece's international creditors.

With many voters disillusioned and exhausted, there were signs that turnout was comparatively light. Most major parties have approved the international bailout Tsipras agreed in August.

Tsipras was voted into office in January promising to halt austerity measures imposed by Europe, which most Greeks blame for worsening one of the deepest depressions of any industrialised country in modern times.

He won a mandate from voters in a referendum in July to spurn austerity conditions for an international bailout, but then reversed himself within days to accept the deal after Greece's banks were shut and the country was pushed to the wall.

That split his leftist coalition, forcing him to resign and call a new vote. But he appears likely to hold onto his position as the dominant political figure in the country despite what some of his leftist followers decried as a betrayal.

Sunday's winner will need to oversee the deep economic reforms required under the 86-billion-euro ($98-billion) bailout. A large majority of the new parliament is expected to be committed the bailout, although with differences on the margin about how it is implemented.

The new government will also need to handle growing refugee inflows. Greece has been the main route into the European Union for tens of thousands of migrants arriving by sea and then heading north across the Balkans to richer countries like Germany.

In a painful reminder of that crisis, 13 migrants died in Turkish waters on Sunday when a boat carrying 46 people en route to Greece collided with a dry cargo vessel and capsized, a Turkish coast guard source said.

(Additional reporting by Michele Kambas; Writing by John Stonestreet; Editing Jeremy Gaunt and Peter Graff)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky