GREECE: As they cast their ballots in crucial repeat election, voters say they are worried about what the future will bring

Record ID: 327796

  • Title: GREECE: As they cast their ballots in crucial repeat election, voters say they are worried about what the future will bring
  • Date: 18th June 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) 59-YEAR OLD ACCOUNTANT PANAGIOTIS BIRLIRAKIS, SAYING: "I hope. I vote for hope. Tsipras is a leader. He bears no relation to the old corrupted past of the last four decades, which were 40 difficult years. I vote more conscientiously because I am part of the previous generation that caused the destruction. I am one of those that fought for democracy and unfortunately it has led us to this current disarray."
  • Embargoed: 3rd July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAPCCU8Z6OH9LW774LPK1MZJ02
  • Story Text: Greeks expressed fears for their future on Sunday (June 17) after casting their ballots in an election that could decide whether their heavily indebted country remains in the eurozone or heads for the exit, potentially unleashing shocks that could break up the single currency.
    In an election fought over the punishing austerity package demanded by international lenders as the price of keeping Greece from bankruptcy, opinion polls showed the radical leftist SYRIZA party, which wants to scrap the deal, running neck and neck with the conservative New Democracy, which broadly backs it.
    The European Union and International Monetary Fund have insisted that the conditions of the 130 billion euro bailout accord agreed in March must be accepted fully by a new government or funds will be cut off, driving Greece into bankruptcy.
    All parties say they will keep Greece in the single currency, but SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras believes the agreement can be renegotiated without Greece having to leave, betting that European leaders cannot afford the turmoil that would be unleashed by cutting a member of the euro zone loose.
    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 calamity, although he, too, wants to renegotiate some aspects of the package.
    Lawyer George Machairas normally lives in London, but he felt so worried about the election he flew back to Athens to vote.
    "I just think it is the most important election that the country has had for years, because I think its a question of whether people want to stay in the euro or whether people want to take a chance to go back to the drachma...whether they are going to try and stay and recover via Europe and within Europe," he said on Sunday.
    "Because I don't think we have a chance of staying alive and getting back on our feet if we isolate ourselves and if we marginalise ourselves, which is what's going to happen if we get out of the euro. I think we're going to end up in the fringes of Europe and economically we are going to go backwards by 50 years," he added.
    Private sector employee Kostas said he hoped that Greece would not exit the euro zone.
    "Not because it is better to be part of the euro zone, but because we don't have a lot of choices...It is a necessary evil," he said.
    A previous election on May 6 created weeks of uncertainty when no party was able to form a government and markets will now watch anxiously for the first signs of a result, with exit polls due shortly after votingat 7 p.m. (1600 GMT).
    The party gaining the most votes wins an automatic 50-seat advantage but neither SYRIZA nor New Democracy is expected to win an outright majority and whoever emerges as top party will have to hold coalition negotiations with smaller groups.
    Home-maker Efrosyni Papageorgiou said she hoped the election would provide a clear result.
    "We want to believe that there will be an elected government on Monday, in order to see a brighter day for this country. Because we have gone through a terrible ordeal, both financially as well as emotionally and in every aspect there is," she said.
    Accountant Panagiotis Birlirakis said he was putting his faith in SYRIZA.
    "I vote for hope. Tsipras is a leader. He bears no relation to the old corrupted past of the last four decades, which were 40 difficult years. I vote more conscientiously because I am part of the previous generation that caused the destruction. I am one of those that fought for democracy and unfortunately it has led us to this current disarray," he said.
    "We are worried," lawyer Pantelis Traianos said.
    "We truly wish for a new government to be elected and we wish to remain in the euro zone. On the other hand, the bailout was truly harsh, the measures were unbearable, there will be a need without a doubt for a re-negotiation," he added.
    Eurozone 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.
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