Blowout Victory For Syriza
UPDATE: Greek Government official admits electoral defeat by Syriza
As AP reports,
A senior official in Greece's governing conservatives has conceded defeat to the radical left Syriza party in Sunday's national elections.
"We lost," Health Minister Makis Voridis told private Mega TV. "The extent of that result is not yet clear."
Voridis, the conservative party's parliamentary spokesman, says the government's austerity policies, implemented to secure vital international bailouts, "make sense" but were cut short before they could bear fruit.
An exit poll on state Nerit TV projects Syriza winning by a wide margin.
* * *
The first Greek exit polls are out and here they are:
According to the initial exit polls, in first place, with some 35.5%-39.5% of the vote is Syriza, a huge lead over the second placing New Democracy which has 23-27% of the vote - far more than polls had indicated previously - and a spot which essentially assures Tsipras' party an absolute majority in parliament and the ability to take as hardline an approach as he wishes.
The other parties:
- Golden Dawn nationalists: 6.4-8.0%
- The new party, To Potami, also with : 6.4-8.0%
- Venizelos' socialist Pasok: 4.2%-5.2%
- KKE: 4.7%-5.7%
- Independent Greeks: 3.5%-4.5%
- Knima: 2.2%-3.2%: probably not enough to pass the 3.0% threshold
How the parliament breakdown would look like with these numbers: SYRIZA has a 12.5 percentage point lead over New Democracy and is expected to get between 146 and 158 seats in Parliament, according to the exit polls.
- SYRIZA 152 (146-158)
- ND 70 ( 65- 75)
- Golden Dawn 19.5 ( 17- 22)
- POTAMI 19.5 ( 17- 22)
- KKE 14.5 ( 13- 16)
- PASOK 13.5 ( 12- 15)
- ANEL 11.5 ( 10- 13)
- KINIMA ( 0- 8)
A second take on what Greek parliament would look like also gives Syriza an almost certain majority
