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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: elmatador who wrote (91614)	6/17/2012 2:25:56 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 217789

Greece's New Democracy Party Leads in Final Exit-Poll Estimates (they seem to secure a majority with PASOK) 17-Jun-2012 ATHENS--Greece's conservative New Democracy party appears to have eked out a narrow victory in Sunday elections and may even be able to form a probailout coalition goverment with the Socialist Pasok party, final exit polls showed, an outcome that is likely to ease fears around the world--at least temporarily--of a Greek exit from the 17-nation euro zone. According to the exit polls shown on the state-owned NET television channel less than two hours after the ballots closed, New Democracy was leading with an estimated 28.6% to 30% of the vote, or 127 seats in the 300-seat parliament. The radical left Syriza party was second with an 27.5% to 28.4% of the vote or 72 seats. Earlier exit poll result had shown the two parties in a statistical dead heat. Despite the apparent close outcome, New Democracy could benefit from a 50-seat bonus in the 300-seat parliament if the exit-poll results are confirmed. The first official projections are expected around 1830 GMT. A win by New Democracy, if confirmed by final results, could set off a relief rally on global financial markets Monday after weeks of uncertainty over Greece--and by extension, the euro zone--has stoked investor fears over the future of the currency bloc. In the past few weeks, Europe's debt crisis has spread to Spain--the euro zone's fourth largest economy--forcing it earlier this month to ask for a bailout for its banks, and even threatens to engulf Italy, severely testing the bloc's financial ability to handle the crisis. New Democracy's 61-year old leader, Antonis Samaras has been an unequivocal backer of Greece's euro zone membership, even though he says he wants to tweak the austerity program Greece has promised its European and international creditors that comes with the country's EUR173 billion ($218.6 billion) bailout package. In the three weeks leading up to Sunday's vote, Samaras has sought to turn the elections into a de facto referendum on the euro, saying that a vote for his opponent--Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras--would be tantamount to voting for a return to the drachma, Greece's former currency. It appears that a narrow plurality of voters decided not to take that bet and plumped for New Democracy. What is less clear, however, is New Democracy's grip on power. The exit polls also point to a fragmented parliament with no party likely to win an outright majority, setting off another contentious round of coalition talks as early as Monday. Ten days of coalition talks following an inconclusive vote May 6 failed to produce a stable government, forcing Sunday's second round. New Democracy's likely coalition partner, the Socialist Pasok party, was seen garnering between 11.0% to 12.4% of the vote, or 32 seats, allowing the two probailout parties to form a majority government if they agree on a coalition, exit polls showed. Any new government will face Olympian hurdles as soon as it takes office, with a central administration threatened by a cash crunch within weeks, an economy in free fall and an angry public exhausted by two years of successive austerity measures. Greece's reform program is also well off track, following weeks of political paralysis. The first task facing Sunday's winner will be to come up with EUR11.5 billion ($14.5 billion)--maybe more--of new austerity measures being demanded by the country's creditors but which could further inflame public opinion. Write to Alkman Granitsas