23.00 Darling of British Left, Owen Jones, is pretty chuffed:
22.55 And the party that no one is talking about... Golden Dawn, is currently on 6.32 per cent and has 17 seats.
22.40 The euro fell in early trading in markets in Australasia as traders reacted to exit polls showing a convincing lead for Syriza, with the currency nearing the 11-year low against the US dollar it hit last week.
The currency lost nearly half a cent to around 1.1167 dollars after hitting 1.1115 last week, its lowest since September 2003.
The result means there will be watchful eyes on the currency when markets in Europe open tomorrow morning.
22.38 It seems the win has put a few leaders' noses out of joint, including Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Spain's Podemos:
22.35 Our front page tomorrow. Greek drama engulfs the Euro:
22.30 75 per cent of votes have now been counted, and Syriza is up to 39.5 per cent of the vote.
22.01 Greece will work with its EU-IMF creditors for a "viable" debt deal but is determined to leave behind "disastrous austerity," Tsipras is now saying..
"The new Greek government will be ready to cooperate and negotiate for the first time with our peers a just, mutually beneficial and viable solution," Tsipras told thousands of supporters at the party's main campaign platform in Athens.
21.52 Latest polling on Greece's Interior Ministry website shows Syriza has 149 seats (which is just shy of the 151 it needs for a majority), and 36.8 per cent of the vote, which works out at 1,390, 75 voters.
21.50 Britain's only Green MP has tweeted her support:
21.35 In a triumphant victory speech, Alexis Tsipras, the Syriza leader, told a cheering crowd in Athens that the troika of international creditors was finished, our reporter in Greece, Nick Squires says.
Your decision today has made the troika a thing of the past. We know what's ahead of us. We know that the Greek public is not giving us a blank cheque.
We are going to bring Greece back from austerity.
We will all fight together to rebuild our country, on a stable basis of justice. Our victory is a victory for all people in Europe who are fighting austerity.
The new Greek government will be willing to collaborate and negotiate with our European counterparts for a fair solution so that Greece can emerge from the vicious circle of debt.
21.22 "We are very aware that the Greek people do not give us a carte blanche... but a mandate of national reconstruction.
"We will fight, all of us, to rebuild our country on a new basis.
"If someone has won today, it is the Greece of knowledge, of civilisation and culture. Greece that is asking for space and time to form a future with dignity."
21.20 "Greece is turning the page," Mr Tsipras announces. "Greece advances with hope, with dignity, with steady steps."
"Today, we have a celebration. Tomorrow, we start the hard work."
21.17 If the official projections prove correct and Syriza does not win an absolute majority, leader Tsipras will be given a three-day mandate to form a government.
Mr Tsipras is about to make a statement.
21.01 Here are the official results, with 50 per cent of the vote counted:
SYRIZA 35.9%
ND 28.3%
G Dawn 6.4%
Potami 5.8%
KKE 5.4%
PASOK 4.8%
Ind Greeks 4.7%
Kinima 2.5%
On this count, Syriza currently has 148 seats in Parliament.
The official projections released at 7.30pm said the final count would be 150 - just one seat short of a majority.
20.56 Reader George Kyritsis emails in:
It was always a matter of time. Austerity measures such as those imposed on the Greek populace... having them bear the burden of decades of mismanagement and outright theft by the political dynasties...was not just.
The result is inevitable and a Greek exit very likely and frankly welcomed. The numbers were fudged to begun with. Greece was never in a viable position to enter the eurozone. These politicians are lucky they govern a tolerant and civilized people. After all, this is Greece - birthplace of Democracy and tolerance...but even in Greece tolerance has its limits. In many other places, their antics, lies and pillaging (for personal gains) of the country and its dignity on the world stage, would have been met with more uncivilized consequences!
20.50 "New Democracy... remains ready to play a decisive role in the developments from now on," says outgoing Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras.
20.48 "My conscience is clear. I received a country which was almost destroyed," he says. "We endured... we set the foundations for development and the definite exit from the current crisis."
"Above all, I hand in a counry which is a member of the European Union. For the good of this country, I hope the next government will maintain everything we have achieved.
"My conscience is clear because I told the truth to the Greek people until the very end."
20.46 Outgoing Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has arrived to make a statement. He has sat down and smiles to cries from his supporters as he reaches for the microphone. He thanks "wholeheartedly" those who have supported him "in this difficult battle".
20.35 Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras has conceded defeat. He has called Alexis Tsipras to congratulate him on winning the election, Reuters reports.
Mr Samaras, whose New Democracy party trailed in the projection by almost nine points, is expected to formally concede defeat in a televised statement shortly.
20.32 Costas Douzinas, a political commentator and a professor of law at the University of London, tells The Telegraph:
If a tiny country like Greece can stand up to the lenders and achieve even a small haircut of the debt, the message to the Spanish, Portuguese and Italians will be that they too can stand up at some point.
The theory of austerity was a kind of black magic. It was the idea that if you bleed a person, like they did with leeches in the Middle Ages, then they will get better. But the patient is bleeding to death."
20.18 The election results, which raise the risk of a Greek standoff over austerity measures with European lenders, have immediately hit the euro.
The single currency fell versus most major currencies in early Australasian trade, losing nearly half a U.S. cent to around $1.1170 according to Reuters data and closing in on $1.1115 hit late last week, its lowest since September 2003.
20.06 Nick Squires considers how other European countries will react to the Greek election results:
The election result will reverberate in countries such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, where the rejection of German-inspired austerity is also growing.
"What's clear is we have a historic victory that sends a message that does not only concern the Greek people, but all European peoples," said Panos Skourletis, Syriza’s spokesman. "There is great relief among all Europeans.”
He said the election result was a rejection of “wild austerity” and would herald "a return of social dignity and social justice.”
Gianni Pittella, an Italian MEP and the head of the Social Democrats in the European Parliament, said: “The Greek people have clearly chosen to break with the austerity imposed on them by the troika’s diktats and to ask the new government to bring in fair policies with more social justice.
“The renegotiation of the Greek debt, and in particular the extension of the terms of its bailout, should no more be considered as a taboo."
The head of Spain’s anti-austerity party, Podemos, also hailed Syriza’s victory.
"Hope is coming, fear is fleeing. Syriza, Podemos, we will win," said Pablo Iglesias, who joined Mr Tsipras at Syriza’s final election rally in Athens on Thursday.
20.00 Syriza was expected to take 36.5 per cent of the vote, ahead of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' centre-right New Democracy which was seen taking 27.7 per cent, according to the projection based on partial results.
The far-right Golden Dawn party will take third spot with 6.3 per cent of the vote, according to the projections, followed by the new centrist To Potami party and then the KKE Communists.
19.52 The official projections show Syriza will easily win the election, but may fall short of an absolute majority in parliament by just one seat.
According to Reuters, an official from Singular Logic, which processes the election results for the interior ministry, said Syriza would get between 149 to 151 seats in the 300-seat parliament, adding that the firm was officially projecting 150 seats but that there was a 0.5 percentage point margin of error.
"We have a thriller over the outright majority," said Michalis Kariotoglou from Singular Logic. "We might need to wait until all votes are counted."
19.34 Official projections have started to come in:
• Syriza party to take 36.5 per cent share of vote, winning 149-151 seats in 300-seat parliament. 151 seats would win the party an outright majority
• New Democracy party on 27.7 per cent
19.25 The results suggest a stunning defeat for the governing New Democracy party, which has been in power since 2012. Its highly negative campaigning was largely to blame, writes Nick Squires:
In the run-up to the elections the conservative party played what one Greek newspaper called “its somewhat exhausted trump card, that of attempting to provoke a wave of panic among the voters without offering any realistic proposal for the amelioration of a situation that has plunged the country into a five year recession.”
19.16 Antonis Balousis, a 54-year-old butcher, tells AFP : "This is a very important victory for Greece and Europe.
"We are going to prove that a different kind of politics is possible in Europe."
The first official results are expected at 7.30pm (GMT) but thousands of Syriza supporters have already gathered to hail their leader.
Supporters of Alexis Tsipras celebrate after the initial election results for Greece general elections in Athens
19.10 A fifth of the votes have been counted and Syriza's lead is narrowing.
18.35 Syriza is on track to take 36 and 38 per cent of the national vote, well ahead of Samaras' centre-right New Democracy party which was seen taking 26 to 28 percent, according to an updated exit poll.
The updated poll showed Syriza securing between 148 to 154 seats in the 300-seat parliament. An absolute majority for Syriza will depend in large part on whether former Prime Minister George Papandreou's new centre-left party manages to cross the 3 per cent threshold to enter parliament.
Centrists To Potami and far-right Golden Dawn were tied for third spot with 6 to 7 per cent of the vote, according to the exit poll.
18.34 New exit poll confirms strong Syriza lead, with To Potami and Golden Dawn still neck-and-neck.
18.25 Angela Merkel and other EU leaders know that if they give major concession to Alexis Tsipras then they will fuel Europe’s growing populist revolt, writes Bruno Waterfield:
The German Chancellor is keenly aware that if voters in Spain and Italy see Syriza is able to win major concessions then a big incentive is created to vote for insurgent anti-austerity populist parties, like the Spanish Leftist Podemos and Italy’s Five Star Movement.
Chancellor Merkel told Francois Hollande and Matteo Renzi that the election of their social democrat governments in France and Italy would not be allowed to change the eurozone’s austerity policies significantly.
Many in Berlin, Frankfurt and Brussels believe the costs of bowing to a rebel government in Athens would soon outstrip the cost of Grexit, of Greece leaving the euro, as voters switch to radical alternative.
The Greek revolt against the loss of their economic sovereignty by eurozone diktat from Brussels or Frankfurt is only the beginning.
In France, Italy and Spain, voters are kicking against mainstream parties that they see as upholding EU institutions such as the euro while failing to represent their own people, the voters.
In Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark it is immigration that has become the touchstone for a popular sense that institutions do not represent the people.
Even in Germany, the cracks in the European political order are beginning to show.
There are plenty of opportunities for revolt: parliamentary elections take place in Greece, Britain, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Early elections are also expected in Italy.
18.10 Syriza says: "hope has won" after release of exit polls. Another round of exit polls is expected in 15 minutes, with first projection at 7.30pm GMT.
17.59 Syriza has argued that austerity, widely seen as a German-led initiative, has been a disaster, producing 50 per cent youth unemployment and a 25 per cent contraction of the country’s economy. It seems the Greek population agree.
17.45 If the exit polls are confirmed, the result would be enough to install 40-year-old Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras as prime minister at the head of the first euro zone government openly opposed to bailout conditions imposed by European Union and International Monetary Fund during the economic crisis.
"It is a historic victory, we still have to see if it will be a big historic victory," Syriza spokesman Panos Skourletis told Greece's Mega TV. "It sends a message against austerity and in favour of dignity and democracy," he said.
17.38 Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras was all smiles when he arrived to vote early this morning, despite the prospect of defeat of his New Democracy party. He said: "I am optimistic, because I believe that no one will risk the European course of our country. We will win."
Meanwhile, Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras had the rock star treatment:
17.26 Our Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield has this analysis:
Can democracy and the euro coexist? Greek voters, Syriza and the rest of Europe is about to find out.
Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank, is fond of telling people that the eurozone’s policies are “irreversible”.
EU officials have been telling me tonight that European law means pacta sunt servanda, agreements must be kept, whatever the Greek voters decide.
Well, the Greeks appear to have elected a party that wants to reverse what the EU and Mr Draghi says is irreversible, to change agreements the weight of European law say are set in stone.
17.16 First reaction reported from conservative New Democracy party: “Exit polls are not results. We will wait for the official results.”
17.10 The biggest party generally needs between 36 and 40 per cent of the vote to win outright although the exact figure depends on the share of the vote taken by parties that fail to cross the 3 per cent threshold to enter parliament.
The exit poll indicated that seven or eight parties will make it into parliament.
Centrists To Potami and far-right Golden Dawn were tied for third spot with 6.4 to 8 per cent of the vote, according to the exit poll.
17.00 First exit polls shows leftist Syriza party taking 35.5 - 39.5 per cent of the vote
It's closest rival, the conservative New Democracy party, is shown to have taken 23-27 per cent, according to the poll by Metron Analysis, GPO, Alco, MRB, Marc.
16.57 Sorry.
16.50 The exit polls will be released shortly after 5pm GMT. But a reminder that exit polls can differ from the final result:
19% of the Greek population is aged over 65 and will have a large say of the future direction if the country in this election. (AFP)
16.35 With just 25 minutes remaining until the polls close, there is just enough time to read this piece on the unlikely address of the man tipped to lead Greece into a bruising confrontation with its international creditors.
Alexis Tsipras, the left-wing politician expected to become the next Greek prime minister, lives with his wife and two children in a flat in a seven-storey apartment block on Harmony Street:
16.30 This update from Nick Squires in Athens:
Sources here in Athens suggest that Syriza has performed even better than expected in voting and that it could be on target to electing 153 MPs in the 300-seat parliament, giving it a clear mandate to govern alone.
16.15 Our correspondent Nick Squires has written a helpful explainer on how the elections work.
It is worth reading in full, but here is a flavour:
• If one party wins more than 150 seats in the 300-seat parliament, it can form a government without an alliance with another party
• If it only wins a relative majority, it has to form an alliance with one of several minor parties.
• The biggest party automatically wins a 50-seat premium.
• But the share of the vote needed to secure an outright majority varies depending on how the smaller parties perform.
• If there is no outright winner, the president, Karolos Papoulias, gives the leader of the biggest party three days in which to form a coalition.
Greek President Karolos Papoulias (C) casts his ballot in a polling station in Ioannina city, Greece
15.55 While Syriza is expected to form the biggest group in the 300-seat parliament, it is unclear if it will be able to govern alone or have to form a coalition with a smaller party.
Here is a guide to the runners and riders in today's election.
15.50 "In Greece, democracy will return," Syriza's 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras told a throng of cameras as he voted in Athens. "The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity."
The leader of Greece's left-wing Syriza party Alexis Tsipras (C) arrives to vote at a polling station in Athens
15.47 Polls close at 7pm (5pm GMT), with 9.8 million Greeks eligible to vote. An exit poll is expected immediately after voting ends, with the first official projections due at 9.30pm, with results updated into the night.
15.45 The last estimates to be published suggested that Syriza had a lead of nearly seven points over its nearest rival, the conservative New Democracy Party of Antonis Samaras, the prime minister, who has become deeply unpopular with millions of Greeks for his implementation of austerity policies.
The poll indicated that Syriza would win 33 per cent of the national vote, although other surveys put the party’s lead at a more modest five per cent.
A man sells lottery tickets as he stands outside a polling station in Athens
15.30 Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Greek elections, which could have profound consequences for the country and for Europe.
The radical leftist Syriza party had a clear lead over its nearest rival as polls opened this morning at 7am local time (5am GMT).
Syriza, led by the firebrand former Communist Alexis Tsipras, has threatened to roll back five years of austerity policies, reject fiscal rigour and cancel the €240 billion in loans that the EU and the International Monetary Fund provided in an emergency bail-out.
If it clinches victory, it would be the first anti-austerity party to be elected to government in the euro zone.
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1EJXQYl
0 comments:
Post a Comment