Greece: Tsipras casts vote in crucial snap elections in Athens

Polling stations opened in Athens at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) on Sunday, in the third round of national votes within eight months, following January's legislative elections and the consequent 'Oxi' referendum to a third bailout package in July. A new record low turnout is expected in the Greek elections as ten million voters reportedly remain undecided with many expected not to vote at all. Both of Greece's major parties, Syriza and New Democracy, have committed to implementing the country's third bailout program, settled six weeks ago. The snap elections were called after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation, shortly after signing the third memorandum on the country's national debt, proposed jointly by the European Commission (EC), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB). Tsipras' cabinet accepted the stringent bailout conditions, despite Greek voters rejecting the terms of the deal in July's referendum. In order to create a government without forming a coalition, at least 151 out of the 300 seats in Greek Parliament must be won, with the Greek parliamentary system giving 250 seats to proportional representation and the remaining 50 to the party that received the most votes. The electoral polls show a very slight advantage for Tsipras' Syriza party. However, the party has lost significant support after the split from the leftist factions of the party, which led to the forming of the new Popular Unity party. New Democracy is polled as coming in as a close second behind Syriza in the polls. Polls for both the Greek Communist Party (KKE) and the far-right Golden Dawn party are also expected to rise in percentage. Polling stations will close at 19:00 local time (17:00 GMT) and the first results are expected between 21:00 and 21:30 local time (between 19:00 and 19:30 GMT).