Syriza to meet other parties after election win

With 80% of polling stations counted, Syriza had 36% versus 28% for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ conservatives.

It remained to be seen whether Syriza had enough seats to govern outright or would have to seek support from other parties. That might not become clear until this morning or even later, when all the votes are counted.

A Syriza official said Mr Tsipras would today meet the head of the small Independent Greeks party which elected 13 MPs “to confirm the support and possible participation of the Independent Greeks in the new government”.

The official said Mr Tsipras would probably be sworn in as prime minister later today, and the new government would be formed in the following couple of days.

If Mr Tsipras, 40, can put together a government, he will be Greece’s youngest prime minister in 150 years.

The prospect of an anti-bailout government coming to power in Greece has sent jitters through the financial world, reviving fears of a Greek bankruptcy that could reverberate across the eurozone.

``The sovereign Greek people today have given a clear, strong, indisputable mandate. Greece has turned a page. Greece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain,'' Mr Tsipras told a crowd of rapturous flag-waving supporters.

He won on promises to demand debt forgiveness and renegotiate the terms of Greece’s €240bn bailout, which has kept the debt-ridden country afloat since mid-2010.

To qualify for the cash, Greece has had to impose deep and bitterly resented cuts in public spending, wages and pensions, along with public sector lay-offs and repeated tax increases.

Its progress in reforms is reviewed by inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, collectively known as the troika, before each instalment of bailout funds can be released.

Mr Tsipras pronounced the troika and its regular debt inspections “a thing of the past”.

He said: “The verdict of the Greek people ends, beyond any doubt, the vicious circle of austerity in our country.”

Greece’s creditors insist the country must abide by previous commitments to continue receiving support.

The election results will be the main topic at today’s meeting of eurozone finance ministers. Belgium’s minister, Johan Van Overtveldt, said there is room for some flexibility, but not much.

“We can talk modalities, we can talk debt restructuring, but the cornerstone that Greece must respect the rules of monetary union – that must stay as it is,” he said.

Mr Samaras conceded defeat, saying he had received a country “on the brink of disaster” when he took over in 2012 and was close to ushering it out of the crisis.

“I was asked to hold live coals in my hands and I did,” he said.

“Most gave us no prospect of lasting out and we did. We got the country out of deficits and recession ... and set the foundations for growth and a final exit from the crisis.”

Syriza’s anti-bailout rhetoric appealed to many in a country that, in the past five years, has seen a quarter of its economy wiped out, unemployment above 25%, and average income losses of at least 30%.

But Syriza’s victory has renewed doubts over Greece’s ability to emerge from the crisis, and generated fears that the country’s finances could once again send shockwaves through global markets and undermine the euro, the currency shared by 19 European countries.

The centrist Potami party was fighting for third place with the Nazi-inspired Golden Dawn, whose leader and several MPs campaigned from prison, where they are awaiting trial on charges of participating in a criminal organisation.

If Syriza falls short of the 151 seats necessary to form a government on its own in the 300-seat parliament, it will have to seek support from other parties - either in a minority government or as part of a coalition.