Exit polls show that Syriza, a Greek political party which has pledged to "end austerity" and re-negotiate its debt obligations with the EU, is poised to win a big victory - and possibly a majority of seats in the new Parliament - in today's election.
151 Seats are needs to get to a majority, otherwise Syriza would have to form a coalition with at least one other party with representatives in Parliament (of which there will be a number).
The polls are now closed, but actual results and official estimates won't be available for a while, possibly hours. But a few exit poll results, with seat estimates, were released as soon as the polls closed not too long ago.
Update:
The first official results of the third election in Greece in five years are expected at 7.30pm GMT, which (thanks to Google) is 11:30 AM Pacific time.
Hmmm. Maybe that's supposed to be 10:30 AM Pacific time.
From a Guardian update:
Syriza predicted to fall just short of majority
With 14% of ballots counted, Syriza is now predicted to fall one seat short of an all out majority.
From the elections website:
11:10 AM Pt: Syriza now at 35.1% with 20% of the vote totalled.
11:25 AM PT: Syriza now at 35.2% with 24% totalled. Results are slow to come in.
11:45 AM PT: Syriza at 35.5% with almost 30% totalled.
12:00 PM PT: Syriza at 35.6% with more than 35% totalled.
1:25 PM PT: Syriza at 36.0% with almost 58% totalled.
1:45 PM PT: Syriza at 36.1% with 64% totalled.
2:15 PM PT: Syriza at 36.0% with 70% totalled.
3:00 PM PT: Syriza at 36.2% with 80% totalled.
6:30 PM PT: Syrizaat 36.35% with 98% totalled. Expected seats: 149 (151 needed for a majority)
I will post updates as they come, and more info.
Here is the official election results site in English. Syriza now has 34.95% of the vote.
10:00 AM PT: A different exit poll with seat estimates.
10:12 AM PT: Explanations:
As Mariken noted in the comments, the party with the most votes gets 50 "bonus" seats in Parliament.
250 seats are thus divided proportionally to the vote with the provisio that a party must get 3% of the vote to get any seats. This is why Syriza could win majority control in Parliament without getting a majority of the vote, and why some parties may end up with no seats.
10:24 AM PT: New York Times article published after exit polls released.
“Democracy will return to Greece,” said Mr. Tsipras, 40, speaking to a swarm of reporters and photographers, as he cast his ballot at an Athens voting station. “The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity.”
10:30 AM PT:
10:33 AM PT: Yet another exit poll. They all seem pretty consistent.
10:59 AM PT:
11:33 AM PT: Video when exit polling results announced from Syriza headquarters.
11:44 AM PT:
11:50 AM PT:
1:31 PM PT:
1:33 PM PT:
1:52 PM PT:
Syriza’s projected share of the parliamentary seats has edged up to 149, according to the latest projection from the interior ministry after 62% of the results.
2:16 PM PT:
2:22 PM PT:
AP has this account of the Tsipras victory speech:
A triumphant Alexis Tsipras told Greeks that his radical left Syriza party’s win in meant an end to austerity and humiliation and that the country’s regular and often fraught debt inspections were a thing of the past.
“The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate. Greece has turned a page. Greece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain,” Tsipras said to a crowd of rapturous flag-waving party supporters.
The 40-year-old Tsipras campaigned on promises of renegotiating the terms for Greece’s €240 billion-euro bailout, which has kept the debt-ridden country afloat since mid-2010.
To qualify for the cash, Greece has had to impose deep and bitterly-resented public spending, salary and pension cuts and repeated tax hikes. Its progress in reforms is reviewed by debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, collectively known as the “troika,” before each installment of bailout funds can be disbursed.
“The verdict of the Greek people ends, beyond any doubt, the vicious circle of austerity in our country,” Tsipras said. “The verdict of the Greek people, your verdict, annuls today in an indisputable fashion the bailout agreements of austerity and disaster. The verdict of the Greek people renders the troika a thing of the past for our common European framework.”
2:31 PM PT: