Election update - first polling data provided - first results from the Interior Ministry due in approximately 40 minutes from the last posted entry from Athens News election tracker thread. First exit polling data out ( 7 pm exit polling data ) - Syriza looks as if they could come in second if the first exit poll numbers hold up - the keys for N.D being able to form a government may be whether both N.D and Pasok come close to the max numbers and then who might they team up with at that point ? If both tally at the min numbers , I don't see the two being able to stitch up a coalition.... Election day beckons in Greece - - and why doesn't Schauble just shut up with the threats ?

8.07pm Our political correspondent George Gilson has been quick off the bat with his piece"Upset in the Greek political system", focusing on what the exit polls show for the post May 6 political landscape in Greece. 

 

8.05pm Rumors have it that both Pasok and New Democracy are all but decided that they will not seek a second round of elections. Top level meetings at both camps have been concluded and it looks as if they will now concentrate on coalition options. While this surprises few as far as Pasok is concerned, it is a definite surprise for New Democracy, with Antonis Samaras having said in the weeks leading up to the ballot show down, that he would seek a second round of elections should a stand alone government fail to arise on May 6. 

 

7.55pm  A meeting is under way at Pasok headquarters on Ippokratous street, in dowtown Athens. The meeting, chaired by Pasok head Evangelos Venizelos has been called, in order to discuss the exit polls that aired at 7pm and to decide on the official party response. 

 

 

7.40pm Interior Minister Tassos Yiannitsis announced the conclusion of voting on Sunday evening and said the first results would start coming in after roughly 90 minutes, while a more complete picture will emerge after two or three hours. "You already have some idea from the exit polls. I hope that the elections can give some prospect for the country's future," he said in a statement. He was not able to announce a precise percentage of voter participation in the elections but said the information currently available showed that this was large.

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/55385

7.18pm And here's the exit poll from Skai/Public Issue

Public Issue for Skai

New Democracy 20.5-24.5

Radical Left (Coalition) Syriza 14-18

Pasok 13-17

Communist Party 7-10.5

Independent Greeks 7-10

Democratic Left 6-9

Golden Dawn 5-8

Ecogreens 2-4

Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) 2-4

Drasi 1-3

Democratic Alliance 1-3

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/55385  - 7pm election exit polls !

7pm Here are the results of the exit polls

Net/Alco

(min-max, in %)

 min

17-20 New Democracy

15.5-18.5 Radical Left Coalition (Syriza)

14-17 Pasok 

10-12 Independent Greeks

7.5-9.5 Communist Party

6-8 Golden Dawn

4.5-6.5 Democratic Left

2.5-3.5 Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos)

2.5-3.5 Democratic Alliance

2.5-3.5 Ecogreens

2-2.8 Drasi

1.9-2.5 Recreate Greece

1.2-2 Anticapitalist Left 

2-4 Others

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55383

French in Greece want a vote against austerity

6 May 2012

French bi-nationals were today voting for change in two separate electional battles. (photo:Eurokinissi) "Enough is enough. There is too much austerity," 72-year old Maria said as she cast a ballot for Socialist Francois Hollande at the French consulate in Athens, before heading to a Greek polling station to back a leftist party. Like many Greeks angered by the economic hardship imposed in exchange for an international bailout, the bi-national pensioner hopes Hollande will win Sunday's French election and turn Europe away from a German-led agenda focused tightly on cutting debt. That agenda has made Germany extremely unpopular here and pushed voters in Greece's parallel poll on Sunday away from the two biggest parties, which support the bailout, and towards a host of small groups opposing it. Hollande's pro-growth pledges have struck a chord with many in recession-hit Greece, including Maria, who said in French with a lilting Greek accent that "a change of government in France can be positive for Greece and for all of Europe." The Socialist contender, who is expected to beat incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in Sunday's election, has campaigned as a critic of austerity policies associated with the alliance between the French president and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. If elected, he has said he would seek to renegotiate a European budget discipline treaty to put more emphasis on growth. "I didn't like the Sarkozy-Merkel alliance," Mina Korovessi, a French-Greek mother of four, said to explain why she voted for Leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon in the first round and Hollande in the second. Korovessi wasn't sure yet who she would support in Greece. But like many Greeks there was "no way" she would vote for the conservative New Democracy or Socialist Pasok, who have ruled for decades and backed unpopular EU/IMF bailouts that fended off bankruptcy but caused deep hardship. HOPE Tax hikes and spending cuts meant to put Greece's derailed finances back on track have dragged the economy into its fifth straight year of recession, with one in two youths unemployed and private sector wages down 25 percent last year alone. As dozens queued outside the French consulate in Athens, opposite the stadium where the first Olympic Games of modern times were organised at the instigation of Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, many said the medicine was killing the patient and they hoped a new French president would help. "The Greeks have much hope in Hollande, they have had enough of austerity, they want a growth plan. This is what Hollande is proposing and I hope that will be positive for Greece," said Cedric, a 42-year old French executive working in shipping. Hollande's margin of manoeuvre will be limited by the need to compromise with euro zone paymaster Germany. Merkel aides say she is not opposed in principle to any of Hollande's ideas but opposes stimulus measures that rely on government money. There are more than 8,000 French registered to vote in Greece, most of them in Athens. At the consulate polling station, nearly a third of voters cast a ballot for Hollande in the first round of the election, placing him slightly ahead of Sarkozy like in the rest of France. Unlike in France however, Leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon had a strong showing of 21 percent and far-right Marine Le Pen scored less than 5 percent. Susanne, a French-Greek in her early 40s, said she was voting for the first time in a French election, pushed by the crisis to take a stand, as did a 56-year-old Frenchwoman who cast a vote for the first time in her 30 years living in Greece. "The situation in Greece pushed me to come and vote," said the 56-year old, who declined to give her name. "There is too much suffering, too many lies." (Reuters) and the panic from Germany continues.... http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/55384 Schaeuble once again sounds euro alarm 6 May 2012 The German finance minister has aimed a new message at anti-austerity forces on the rise in France and Greece. (file photo) German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble has once again sounded an audible alarm bell, his message aimed squarely at Greece and France, the two coutries that today are focused on electional clashes, that could well shape the future of the eurozone. Speaking to Focus magazine on Sunday, he stressed the need for reforms that will spur growth and voiced his disagreement over state funded stimulus packages, echoing Angela Merkel's position on the subject and placing himself firmly opposite French socialist contender Francois Hollande. Expanding on the topic, he said that such packages would only make matters worse, as state debts were the main reason behind the financial crisis. He also maintained that growth in Germany was made possible through the fact that Germany runs an extremely tight ship.  The timing of his message comes at a time when both France and Greece seem to be leaning towards parties and individuals preaching from a completely different hymn book than that used by Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel and lays the ground for the tough euro policy battles that lay ahead.  and..... Troika insists on power rate hike  Liberalization of the energy market depends on rationalizing prices, it says By Chryssa Liaggou Greece’s official creditors are arm-twisting Athens to accept an increase to electricity rates from July 1, threatening otherwise to block the loan by the Deposits and Loans Fund aimed at bolstering liquidity in the local power market. The representatives of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- collectively known as the troika -- have extensively studied the cash-flow problem in the local electricity sector and acknowledged the critical point it has come to, and are now willing to approve the 350-million-euro loan to LAGHE, the electrical energy market operator, and grid operator ADMHE, as well as to Public Power Corporation. The condition they are setting, however, is for the structural aspect of the problem to be solved. The data that the troika has collected show that the problem is not temporary or just about liquidity, and will therefore not be effectively solved with snap measures. As a result, it will demand a set of terms, the most important of which is the rate hike from as early as this summer. It has also criticized the high guaranteed prices for energy from renewable sources. The government is seeking a solution to these problems but in a way that would not diminish the positive climate in the renewable energy market, the only part of the energy sector that is still managing to attract investment interest at present. The troika is adamant about the power rate hikes as out of the recent 13 percent increase only 1 percent went to PPC, and therefore the energy market, while the rest went to cover interest and other utilities. It also insists that there can be no real liberalization of the energy market unless rates reflect actual production costs. and... Greek exit would mean a euro rise, says Dexia The euro may rise more than 3 percent to a five-month high against the dollar should Greece leave the currency union, according to RBC Dexia Investor Services Ltd. The 17-nation currency has advanced 1.4 percent against the greenback this year even as the euro region slides into recession and reports suggest global growth is faltering. While the European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate at a record low 1 percent on Friday, it is still above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of between zero and 0.25 percent and the Bank of England’s benchmark of 0.5 percent. “I don’t think the interest rate differential alone is enough to keep the euro where it is,” Morgan McDonnell, head of global foreign exchange, cash and credit markets at RBC Dexia in London, said in an interview this week. “It is a bet on Europe and its future without the weaker countries. The second they say Greece is out, it is going to go up to $1.36.” [Bloomberg]