Yes good people, Greece may have been pushed to the back pages lately but this week-end sees the election called by Tsipras
Campaigning is now over and voters go to the polling booths tomorrow (Sunday)
Yesterday I reported that New Democracy had a narrow lead in the polls but former prime minister Alexis Tsipras's leftist Syriza party appeared to be slightly ahead of conservative rival Vangelis Meimarakis's New Democracy, if a flurry of late polls are correct.
But neither party looked set to garner the roughly 38% of the vote generally seen as needed to get a majority in the 300-seat parliament as a result of a 50-seat bonus awarded to the party with the most votes.
Ryan ran this comprehensive preview here on Wednesday which told us amongst other key points that:
- 7am local time (5am GMT) the polls open and they close at 7pm local
- Exit polls will be published at the close with an initial result released around 9.30pm (7.30pm GMT)
- The vote count will be published here http://ekloges.ypes.gr/
and adds this conclusion for the euro:
Probably not a lot if the status quo remains or ND get in without much of a fuss. The market will probably think 'same s**t, different shovel' but there may be some light relief buying early on just on the basis that the election risk is removed. If it all goes to hell in a handbasket then the euro will likely suffer at the open. It just depends on how things stand. This is Greece remember and there is a history of these elections being dragged out
I'm of a similar view but if ND do win with conviction then we may well see a euro wobble given the bailout deal uncertainty. Similarly a hung/inconclusive result will bring uncertainty
Either way we haven't long to wait now and we'll report on the results tomorrow
Reuters has their take here
Time for me to head out now to cheer on the mighty Shrimpers of Southend
Have a great week-end one and all
Tsipras- Another chance coming to see off the sharks?
