ATHENS (MNI) – Conservative main opposition party New Democracy is
leading in Greek parliamentary elections, according to exit poll results
released at 7:00pm local time, but its 17-24% percentage is lower than
expected.

Expectations had been for New Democracy to harvest some 27% of the
votes. But the biggest surprise so far is from leftist, anti-austerity
party Syriza, which has climbed to second place, earning 14-18%.

Socialist PASOK party, led by former Finance Minister Evangelos
Venizelos, has been taking the biggest hit with only 13-17%.

According to the exit polls, three newly formed parties, all
against the present economic and fiscal policy, will wind up being
represented in parliament.

Of these, the far right party “Independent Greeks” is showing
10-12%, winning some conservative New Democracy supporters who appeared
unhappy with the decision of party leader Antonis Samaras to vote in
favour of the second austerity program.

Center-left party “Democratic left” is currently seen at 4.5-6.5%,
absorbing votes from dissatisfied socialist PASOK supporters. PASOK,
under the leadership of former Prime Minister George Papandreou and
later under Evangelos Venizelos, has been held responsible for five
years of continuing recession, dramatic wage and pension cuts and
unemployment over 20%.

The third of the newcomers, Fascist party “Golden Dawn”, which
mainly focused its campaign on the surge of illegal immigrants in
Greece, is registering 6-8% of the votes.

But exit pollers warn that the figures might not match the actual
result and that the first “safe” outcome will not be published until
around 9:00pm local time. A clear picture of the election outcome is
expected around midnight.

It is clear, though, that no party is winning a majority of 50%
plus one in order to form a government tomorrow morning. The two main
parties, PASOK and New Democracy, were hoping that a combined outcome of
38% could allow them to form a coalition government .

As stated by the electoral law of Greece, a 38% result could be
regarded as a workable parliamentary majority and could be sustained.
But if exit polls are correct then such a possibility might not
materialize as PASOK is falling to third place and New Democracy is
doing worse than had been expected.

According to the electoral law, 250 out of the 300 parliamentary
seats will be distributed on the basis of proportional representation,
with a threshold of 3% for entry into parliament. The other 50 seats
will be awarded to the leading party. Majority is achieved by a party or
coalition of parties that commands at least one half plus one (151 out
of 300) of total seats. Blank and invalid votes, as well as votes cast
for parties that fall short of the 3% threshold, are disregarded for
seat allocation purposes.

–Frankfurt bureau tel.: +49 69 720142. Email: frankfurt@marketnews.com

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