Greeks weigh consequences of pivotal vote

Page last updated at 03:56 GMT, Saturday, June 16, 2012 - 08:56 EST

Reuters India:

Greeks weighed anger on Saturday at five years of biting recession with a deep fear of being forced from Europe's single currency on the eve of a pivotal election that could send shockwaves through global financial markets.

The vote on Sunday amounts to a referendum on the punishing terms set by international lenders as the price of saving debt-ridden Greece from bankruptcy - tax hikes, job losses and pay cuts that have helped condemn the country to record-breaking recession.

Riding a wave of anger from political obscurity to contender for power, radical leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras, 37, is threatening to tear up the bailout deal, saying Europe is bluffing when it threatens to cut Greece loose and risk a broader euro breakup.

On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, 61, says that to reject the 130 billion euro ($163.75 billion) bailout deal would force a return to the drachma and even greater economic calamity.

Wrapping up his campaign on Friday night before several thousand supporters waving Greek and EU flags in the capital's central Syntagma square, Samaras said: "We are going into an election to decide the future of Greece and of our children."

Read the whole story: Reuters India