Greece’s two largest pro-bailout parties, New Democracy and Pasok, won enough seats to forge a parliamentary majority, a final exit poll showed, pointing to an outcome that may ease concern of a clash that could force the country out of the euro.
The results would give New Democracy and Pasok 159 seats, if they agree to govern together, in the 300-member Greek parliament, according to the poll broadcast on state-run television NET. Official estimates are due after 9:30 p.m. in Athens
For markets, a majority for an ND-Pasok coalition would be a relief,” Holger Schmieding, London-based chief economist at Berenberg Bank, said in a note today. “It would very much reduce the risk of a Greek euro exit.”
The vote forced Greeks, in a fifth year of recession, to choose open-ended austerity to stay in the euro or reject the bailout conditions and risk the turmoil of exiting the 17-nation currency. Group of 20 leaders begin their annual gathering in Los Cabos,Mexico, tomorrow, with France’s Francois Hollande andGermany’s Angela Merkel opting not to leave for the event until after the outcome in Greece is known.
Antonis Samaras’s New Democracy had between 28.6 percent and 30 percent, yielding 127 seats, and Socialist Pasok took between 11 percent and 12.4 percent, for 32 seats, the exit polls showed. Alexis Tsipras’s Syriza, which advocated reneging on the terms of the bailout, won between 27.5 percent and 28.4 percent, or 72 seats.
Greece’s Struggle
While 21 parties were on the ballot, the main contest was between Tsipras and Samaras, who said his challenger’s policy risked an exit from the currency union.
The election marked a revote after an inconclusive May 6 ballot that stoked increasing speculation that Greece’s dwindling cash reserves and accelerating deposit flight would force it out of the 17-nation currency union.
Official figures showed that New Democracy had 31 percent of the vote, Syriza 25.5 percent and Pasok 13.4 percent with 20 percent of the vote counted, according to the Interior Ministry website.
European finance ministers plan a conference call to discuss the outcome, with a statement likely to be issued around 10 p.m. Brussels time, a European official said under condition of anonymity.
The vote was held against a backdrop of a spate of forest fires around the country that forcedemergency services to request help from European Union countries. Five firemen were injured battling blazes yesterday.
Samaras Choice
Samaras has said the vote today was a choice between the euro or drachma. Tsipras, who has said he’ll try to keep Greece in the euro while tearing up the bailout agreements, has urged voters to reject the two main parties that backed the international rescue, New Democracy and Pasok.
Now in its third year, the European debt crisis has rounded back to Greece, which sparked the turmoil in October 2009 when Pasok Prime Minister George Papandreou revealed a deficit four times more than European rules allowed. Greece has since gotten two rescue packages totaling 240 billion euros ($303 billion)from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Central banks intensified warnings that Europe’s failure to tame its debt crisis threatens to roil the world’s financial markets and economy as Greece’s election looms as the next flashpoint for investors.
The Greek turmoil has cast a pall around the world, with Bank of England Governor Mervyn King calling the euro debt crisis a “black cloud” over the global economy.
The euro, created in 1999 and adopted by Greece in 2001, has lost 3.3 percent since May 6, when Syriza’s second-place finish increased the prospect of a Greek exit from the currency union. New Democracy won 18.9 percent in the May 6 election and Syriza got 16.8 percent.
To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Petrakis in Athens at mpetrakis@bloomberg.net; Natalie Weeks in Athens at nweeks2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น