Exit Polls: Greek Austerity Parties Suffer Major Losses

Posted May 6th, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC-5)
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Exit polls show Greece's two main austerity parties have suffered major losses in parliamentary elections.

The surveys, reported minutes after polls closed Sunday, showed the conservative New Democracy party — the leading vote- getter — carrying 17 to 20 percent of the vote, down from 33.5 percent in 2009 polls. The polls showed the socialist PASOK party carrying between 14 and 17 percent.

Both parties have said they will press the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank to ease austerity requirements imposed on Athens' debt-ridden government in return for a more than $300 billion bailout. But many Greeks blame the parties for leading the nation in its debt crisis with widespread mismanagement.

Several smaller parties, responding to voter anger over the austerity measures, have campaigned on platforms to renegotiate bailout terms, while the communist KKE party wants to leave the eurozone altogether.

A neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, was also set to enter parliament for the first time in decades, with between six and eight percent of the vote — well above the necessary three percent threshold.