Post date: Jun 17, 2012 10:43:52 AM
ATHENS, GREECE (JUNE 17, 2012) (REUTERS) - Greeks voting in Athens on Sunday (June 17) said they just hoping for a good government, as the country takes to the polls for the second time in six weeks.
Greeks take to the polls in a cliff-hanger election which could tip Greece towards a euro exit.
A re-run of a May 6 vote that ended in stalemate, the election amounts to a referendum on the punishing terms set by international lenders as the price of saving Greece frombankruptcy - withering tax hikes, job losses and pay cuts that have helped condemn Greeks to five years of record recession.
The election is too close to call and could push the debt-ridden country out of the European single currency, rocking the euro to its core and sowing turmoil in global financial markets.
Riding a wave of anger to rise from political obscurity to contender for power, radical leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is threatening to tear up the terms of the 130 billion
euro ($163.75 billion) bailout.
Tsipras says Europe cannot afford to cut Greece loose and cope with the fallout for the rest of the 17-member euro zone.
On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says rejection of the EU/IMF bailout would mean a return to the drachma and even greater economic calamity.
Neither party is expected to win outright, triggering coalition negotiations with smaller parties.
While public anger saw a backlash against the established parties in the May 6 election, some voters say they have decided to put Greece first this time around.
Business owner Elizabeth Nimou said she delayed her summer holidays to make sure she would be in Athens for election day.
"My vote is different from the last time. This time my vote will be more reasonable," said business owner Elizabeth Nimou after casting her ballot for New Democracy.
Greeks say overwhelmingly that they do not want to leave the euro but neither do they want the terms of the bailout, which many believe has amnestied a corrupt, tax-evading elite and heaped an unfair burden on the poorest sections of society.
"We need to vote for Greece in order to save Greece. From that point on a person makes a choice," added Christina Bitsakou.
Dentist Nikos Bitsakos said that while he voted against the bailout, he expected Greece would need to go to a third election within months.
"In October we will meet again. The problems won't be solved," he said.
One pensioner who did not want to be named said he voted for SYRIZA.
"I hope we will have a government, a good government, a new government," he said.
A new government would buy time, but little respite. Whoever comes to power may find their tenure is short-lived.
Euro zone officials have hinted they might give a new Greek government some leeway on how it reaches debt targets set by the EU/IMF bailout package, but there would be no change to the targets themselves.
Polling stations close at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT). Exit polls will quickly follow.