Greek vote to tip balance in EU crisis ...

Greeks are casting their votes in crucial parliamentary elections amid a spiraling economic crisis. Analysts predict Greece’s two long-term ruling parties will lose their majority, potentially endangering the country’s debt obligations.

Currently opinion polls show no clear winner emerging from Sunday’s parliamentary election, however voters are expected to punish the two main parties that have alternated leadership for the last 38 years.

Typically the socialist PASOK and center-Right New Democracy take around 80 per cent of the vote, but this time there are doubts they will even get 50 per cent needed to stay in power.

Altogether there are 32 parties vying for position in the nation’s parliament with smaller more radical groups expected to gain ground. Up to 10 are predicted to win seats according to polls.

They offer an alternative to the unpopular cuts and are capitalizing on public disillusionment over the current government’s mismanagement of the country.

The PASOK and New Democracy parties both begrudgingly supported the 110 billion-euro European bailout agreed last year to save Greece’s moribund economy. The agreement prompted a chain of crippling austerity measures that have drawn the ire of the Greek public.

Former Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos, now head of PASOK, warned the Greek public that the country could face expulsion from the eurozone should anti-bailout parties take power.

"Sunday will decide whether we remain in Europe and the euro, and we stay on a course that is difficult but safe, after having covered most of the distance, to finally emerge from the crisis and [austerity]," he said during his final campaign rally in central Athens on Friday night.

Political analysts have expressed concerns that a lack of unity in the Greek government could potentially endanger the country’s debt commitments and bring about another bailout or possible exit from the eurozone.

"Political paralysis in Greece following the elections could lead to a default and even threaten a euro exit, in our view," Bank of America strategist Athanasios Vamvakidis wrote in a paper published on Tuesday.

The knock-on effect of Greece leaving the eurozone could sound a death-knell for both the Italian and Spanish economies, both flagging under the weight of toxic debt.

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