Greeks are going to the polls on Sunday to vote in a crucial parliamentary election expected to decide the country’s future in the eurozone.
The elections, seen as the most important poll in the country’s post-war history, will show whether the electors back the Greek government’s tight austerity measures being implemented in exchange for massive bailout loans from international creditors or reject them and risk the country's ejection from the euro area.
EU leaders have said a rejection of the bailout deal would lead Greece out of the eurozone.
The poll is being watched closely around the world amid fears that the Greek exit from the euro area could affect other eurozone countries and rock the global economy.
Disagreements over Greece’s bailout deal were the main obstacle to reaching an agreement on a new government after the May parliamentary elections. Conservative New Democracy chief Antonis Samaras and Socialist Pasok party leader Evangelos Venizelos backed the plan, but Alexis Tsipras, who leads the radical left coalition Syriza, has refused to join any government that does not reject the harsh austerity measures imposed in return for billions of euros in international rescue loans.
Opinion polls held before the election showed Syriza was running neck and neck with the conservative New Democracy.
