The center-right party PASOK and its ally, the conservative New Democracy, stand to win enough seats in Greek legislative elections on Sunday to maintain their collective hold on power, according to early vote results.
But PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos called for an alliance with other parties, saying the coalition is unlikely to have full legitimacy even if it scraps to win a majority in the 300-seat Greek parliament. He named no prospective partners.
PASOK received 22 percent of the vote and New Democracy, its partner in the current government, scored 15 percent, according to preliminary results based on the some 7 percent of the ballots counted.
This would give the two parties a combined 151 seats in the legislature, said the Singular Logic think-tank. The two had 201 seats in the parliament before this Sunday’s snap elections prompted by Greece’s dire economic problems.
PASOK and New Democracy are the only major parties who support economic austerity measures proposed for Greece by the EU and the International Monetary Fund.
The radical left SYRIZA is coming third with 14 percent of the vote, followed by Independent Greeks with 10 percent, the Communist Party with 8 percent, ultranationalist Golden Dawn with slightly under 7 percent and the Democratic Left with 5.7 percent, according to preliminary results.
