ATHENS: Greeks voted on Sunday in an election expected to bring to power the radical leftist Syriza party, which has pledged to take on international lenders and roll back painful austerity measures imposed during years of economic crisis.
Barring a huge upset, Syriza, which has led opinion polls for months, will be the biggest party and aims to form the first euro zone government openly committed to cancelling the austerity terms of its EU and IMF-backed bailout programme.
"In Greece, democracy will return," the party's 40-year-old leader Alexis Tsipras told a throng of cameras as he voted in Athens. "The message is that our common future in Europe is not the future of austerity."
A Syriza win would represent another turning point for Europe after last week's announcement by the European Central Bank of a massive injection of cash into the bloc's flagging economy after years of trying to clamp down on budgets and pushing countries to pass structural reforms.
Polls close at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT), with 9.8 million Greeks eligible to vote. An exit poll is expected immediately after voting ends, with the first official projections due at 9.30 p.m. with results updated into the night.
While Syriza is expected to form the biggest group in the 300-seat parliament, it is unclear if it will be able to govern alone or have to form a coalition with a smaller party.
Final polls on Friday gave the party a lead of up to 6.7 points with 31.2-33.4 percent of the vote, slightly under the level needed for an outright victory.
However the final result could hinge on whether it can convince enough voters that it can keep Greece on a sustainable course, with many wary of idealistic promises.
"I voted for a small party to force them all to collaborate, get us back to growth and keep us in the euro," said Christos Mousouris, 52, a civil engineer. "People should be realists and not believe in fairy tales."
Syriza appeared to be widening the gap in the final days of campaigning over the centre-right New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who appealed to undecided voters to ensure Greece stays on the path of stability and reforms.
"Today we are deciding if we move ahead with power, safety and confidence or if we get into an adventure," Samaras said after voting in the western Pelopponese region.
After its most severe crisis since the fall of the military junta in 1974, Greece's economy has shrunk by some 25 percent, thousands of businesses have closed, wages and pensions have been slashed and unemployment among youth is over 50 percent.
At the same time, its massive public debt has climbed from 146 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to 175.5 percent last year, the second highest in the world.
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