Pro-bailout conservatives win Greek election

Athens – The New Democracy party has come in first in Greece’s election and proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government.

“The Greek people today voted for Greece to remain on its European path and in the eurozone,” Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy leader, said, adding that voters chose “policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security”.

New Democracy beat Syriza, which wanted to cancel Greece’s international bailouts. Alexis Tsipras, Syriza chief, conceded the election late in the day.

The parties vying to win have starkly different views about what to do about the 240bn euros ($300bn) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders.

Greece has been dependent on rescue loans since May 2010, after sky-high borrowing rates left it locked out of the international markets following years of profligate spending and falsifying financial data.

Virtually unknown outside of Greece four months ago, Tsipras and his party shot to prominence in the May 6 vote, where he came a surprise second and quadrupled his support since the 2009 election.

Tsipras had vowed to tear up Greece’s bailout agreements and repeal the austerity measures, which have included deep spending cuts on everything from health care to education and infrastructure, as well as tax hikes and reductions of salaries and pensions.

But his pledges, which include cancelling planned privatizations, nationalising banks and rolling back cuts to minimum wages and pensions, horrified European leaders, as well as many Greeks.

Samaras, for his part, cast the choice as one between the euro and returning to the drachma. He pledged to renegotiate some of the bailout’s harsher terms but insists the top priority is for the country to remain in Europe’s joint currency.

“Today the Greek people speak. Tomorrow a new era for Greece begins,” Samaras said after voting in southern Greece.

Earlier on Sunday, about 10 men armed with sledgehammers and wooden bats attacked a polling station in central Athens, wounding two policemen guarding it and setting fire to the ballot box shortly before polls closed. The attack – the only one reported so far – took place in the Athens neighbourhood of Exarhia, a traditional haven for leftists and anarchists.

Greek police were also investigating the discovery on Sunday of two unexploded hand grenades outside private Skai television station on the outskirts of Athens.

Demetris Tsiodras, the Greek government spokesperson, denounced the devices as an attempt to spoil the smooth running of the election.

Germany’s foreign minister said after the polls closed that it is important for a new Greek government to stick to the country’s agreements with international creditors, but he hinted that the country may be given more time to comply with them after weeks of pre-election standstill.

The election outcome is expected to determine the fate of the unpopular austerity and reform measures that Greece was required to impose for its bailout loans.