Greeks go to polls in early parliamentary elections

ANKARAH, Jan 25 (KUNA) -- Greek voters went to the polls on Sunday to participate in early general election crucial to choose 300 members for the Greek Parliament.
More than 8.9 million voters are eligible to cast ballot in the elections, Athens News Agency said.
The Greek Presidency issued a decree on December 31 last year to dissolve parliament after the failure to elect a new president for the third time succeeding the current President Karolos Papoulias, whose term ends in March 2015.
Prime Minister of Greece, Antonis Samaras, proposed earlier to hold new elections in this date for the formation of a new parliament, which will hold its first session on February 5.
The presidential candidate, Former European commissioner Stavros Dimas, garnered 168 votes out of the votes needed to win the presidency, which are 200 votes in the final round of voting.
Greek opposition Coalition of the Radical Left party, known as Syriza, led by Alexis Tsipras and the New Democracy party led by Antonis Samaras are competing in the elections.
Greece joined the euro zone in beginning in 2001 when the euro was adopted as the official currency instead of Drachma the historical Greek currency.
In April 2010 Greece came under a severe economic crisis, forcing the Greek government to seek help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to activate a rescue plan which included loans to help the country avoid the risk of bankruptcy.
The Greek crisis then threatened the stability of the euro area, and floated the idea of a Greek exit from the economic zone, but Europe has decided to provide assistance to Greece in return for implementation of economic reforms and austerity measures aimed at reducing the public budget deficit.
According to data from the Greek Statistical Authority, Greece's sovereign debt during the third quarter of last year reached 5.315 billion euros. (end) rs.ss