Anti-austerity Syriza sweeps Greece parliamentary poll
Party’s leader Alexis Tsipras, who wants to renegotiate EU and IMF bailout terms, set to become next prime minister.
Syriza, a radical left party, has swept to power in Greece promising to end years of painful austerity policies, in an election victory that puts the country on a collision course with the EU and international creditors.
In a result that exceeded analysts’ expectations, Syriza and its 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras won 149 seats in the 300-seat Greek parliament, just two short of an absolute majority, with most of the votes counted on Sunday.
Antonis Samaras’ New Democracy, the former party of government, was routed and reduced to around 76 seats.
Syriza, which says it does not want to leave the euro, will become the first anti-austerity party to take power in Europe and Tsipras will be Greece’s youngest prime minister in 150 years.
Tsipras, a former Communist youth activist, told thousands of flag-waving supporters in Athens: “Greece is leaving behind disastrous austerity.”
Tsipras repeated his pledge to renegotiate the terms of Greece’s $269bn bailout with the EU and the International Monetary Fund, but struck a more conciliatory tone than during his fiery campaign.
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