Voters head to the polls in Greece
- 12 years ago
ROUGH CUT, NO REPORTER NARRATION
Polls open in Greece Sunday in an election that is too close to call, and that could push the debt-ridden country out of the European single currency, rocking the euro to its core and sowing turmoil in global financial markets.
The election, a re-run of a May 6 vote that ended in stalemate, amounts to a referendum on the punishing terms set by international lenders as the price of saving Greece from bankruptcy - withering tax hikes, job losses and pay cuts that have helped condemn Greeks to five years of record recession.
Riding a wave of anger to rise from political obscurity to contender for power, radical leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is threatening to tear up the terms of the 130 billion euro (163.75 billion U.S. dollar) bailout.
Tsipras says Europe cannot afford to cut Greece loose and cope with the fallout for the rest of the 17-member euro zone.
On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says rejection of the EU/IMF bailout would mean a return to the drachma and even greater economic calamity.
Samaras told supporters on Friday they faced a stark choice - "euro versus drachma."
Polls open in Greece Sunday in an election that is too close to call, and that could push the debt-ridden country out of the European single currency, rocking the euro to its core and sowing turmoil in global financial markets.
The election, a re-run of a May 6 vote that ended in stalemate, amounts to a referendum on the punishing terms set by international lenders as the price of saving Greece from bankruptcy - withering tax hikes, job losses and pay cuts that have helped condemn Greeks to five years of record recession.
Riding a wave of anger to rise from political obscurity to contender for power, radical leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is threatening to tear up the terms of the 130 billion euro (163.75 billion U.S. dollar) bailout.
Tsipras says Europe cannot afford to cut Greece loose and cope with the fallout for the rest of the 17-member euro zone.
On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says rejection of the EU/IMF bailout would mean a return to the drachma and even greater economic calamity.
Samaras told supporters on Friday they faced a stark choice - "euro versus drachma."