Greece’s Syriza wins with 35.5 pct of vote

Leader of the Greek radical-left Syriza party Alexis Tsipras waves to supporters as he arrives at the main party’s election headquarters in central Athens on September 20, 2015.

It is the third time this year Greeks have voted, after January elections that brought Tsipras to power on an anti-bailout platform, and a June referendum he called urging voters to reject creditor reform proposals.

But if Syriza is denied an outright majority, it faces coalition-building talks that could be messy and lead to more political instability just as the country must implement the reform and austerity measures promised in the summer in exchange for its third bailout since 2010.

Greece’s charismatic left-wing leader Alexis Tsipras romped to victory in Greece’s general election on Sunday, winning his second mandate as premier this year despite a controversial austerity deal struck with European leaders.

“We were certain about Syriza’s victory, even thought during the last months the government made some mistakes”.

Tsipras invited Kammenos in front of an audience amid his triumph discourse, telling the gathering of people “Together we will proceed with the battle we started seven months prior.”

“We now have to do our homework so that Greece becomes a well ordered state, to fight corruption and vested interests”, Kretsos, who is also the Greek government’s general secretary of communications, said in a telephone interview. The government also has to draft the 2016 budget, overhaul the pension system, raise taxes, carry out privatizations and merge social security funds.

Tsipras said: “I feel vindicated because the Greek people gave us a clear mandate to continue our struggle, inside and outside the country, to lift our pride”. The Independent Greeks were in seventh place with 3.6% of the vote and 10 parliamentary seats. “Recovery from the crisis can’t come magically, but it can come through tough work”.

A combined poll from five television stations said Syriza would get between 34 and 30 per cent of the vote yesterday, with New Democracy in a range of 32.5 to 28.5 per cent.

A Syriza source told Reuters Sunday that they would seek to form a government with the Independent Greeks, its former coalition partner.

Party officials were nervous before the result that a low turnout and a sense of betrayal among core supporters could mean a narrow defeat.