The conservative New Democracy party has snatched victory in crunch Greek elections and could gather enough support to form a pro-bailout coalition to keep the country in the eurozone, according to official projections.
The vote is seen as crucial for Europe and the wider financial world. Although no party will win enough seats in the 300-member parliament to form a government on its own, official projections show the two traditional parties - New Democracy and the socialist PASOK - would have enough seats to form a coalition together.
The projections showed New Democracy as winning 29.5% and 128 seats.
The radical left Syriza party, which has vowed to repeal Greece's international bailout conditions, is expected in second place with 27.1% and 72 seats. PASOK trails with 12.3% and 33 seats. To form a majority government, a coalition would need at least 151 seats.
The parties vying to win have starkly different views about what to do about the 240 billion euro (£193 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders.
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says his top priority is to stay in the euro but has promised to renegotiate some terms of the bailout.
Syriza head Alexis Tsipras, a 37-year-old former student activist, has vowed to cancel the terms of Greece's international bailout deal and repeal its austerity measures. "There are many power-sharing possibilities that include a vote of tolerance from parties," Syriza member Nikos Voutsis said on state television. "But we'll see.'"
The party that comes first in the vote gets a bonus of 50 seats in the 300-member Parliament and gets the first try at forming a new government with a majority in Parliament. If they fail, the next highest party gets to try.
Earlier, the exit polls projected seven parties in all beating the 3% threshold for seats in Parliament, including the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party, which vehemently rejects the neo-Nazi label but has been blamed for numerous violent attacks against immigrants.
Golden Dawn was projected at winning between 6 and 7.5 %, roughly maintaining the level of the nearly 7% it won in May - a meteoric rise for a fringe party that had polled at just 0.3%. The small Democratic Left party was projected at winning between 5.5 and 6.5%, with the right-wing Independent Greeks tied with Golden Dawn at 6-7.5%.
