ballot box closed Greece. According to the first exit polls published by broadcaster ERT, the party is from New Democracy of the outgoing prime minister Kyriacus Mitsotakis it is given between 40 and 36%. Syrizathe party of Alexis Tsipras instead it is between 29 and 25%. The pasok, third political force, is given between 12.5 and 9.5%.

Turnout in Greece was 48% as of 4:30 p.m. local time, the Interior Ministry said, based on data collected from 80% of polling stations.

The first partial results should be known in the next two hours. But these first projections They would confirm that neither of the two main contenders could secure the necessary government majority without forming a coalition with other parties, making it very likely that Greeks will have to go back to the polls in early July.

Kyriacus Mitsotakiswho wants to be reappointed for four years, ruled out an education a coalition in a country whose political culture is not based on compromise. And in turn Alexis Tsipras appealed to the leader of the socialist party Pasok-Kinal, Nikos Androulakis, for an alliance, but this one upped the ante. If it is not possible to form a government in the next two weeks, as many analysts expect, new elections will have to be called at the end of June or beginning of July. At this point the winner poll She would benefit from a bonus of up to 50 seats, which would likely give her a stable majority.

Around 9.8 million of voters registered to take part in the elections, of which almost 400,000 You will be voting for the first time. Citizens who have completed i can also vote 17 years, estimated at 112,000. 36 political parties participate in this election round. The ruling conservative New Democracy Party (ND) stressed the need for stability, while opposition parties pointed to a growing cost of living crisis. Greece, whose economy is mainly dependent on the sector services and tourism, has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the economy shrank by almost 10% in 2020.