Greeks elect new parliament amid EU withdrawal concerns
RT.com
January 25, 2015
Greeks are going to polling stations on Sunday to elect a new parliament. The populist radical-leftist party Syriza has won the hearts of many austerity-ridden people with its message of reverting wages cuts and renegotiating debt obligations.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras was forced to call a snap vote in December after the parliament failed to elect a president. His center-right New Democracy party is now running behind Syriza, with opinion polls showing a gap of several percentage points.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras urged his voters to give his party an outright victory of 40 percent, which would allow him to form a government with no help from other parties.
“Light has won over darkness. Victory and a majority are within our grasp,” the politician told supporters at his final campaign rally in Crete.
But the latest polls indicate Syriza will need a partner for a coalition. This could be one of the smaller Greek parties, who would barely manage to pass the 3 percent threshold to gain seats in parliament. One likely candidate is the Independent Greeks, formed by rebels from the New Democracy. They have demonstrated a surprising popularity growth in the past weeks.
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