Greek voters dealt a blow to eurozone hopes that Athens will stick to its austerity commitments as parties opposing more cuts won almost 60% support in today’s election.
According to updated exit polls, the two main parties suffered heavy losses with the conservative New Democracy and the left-wing Pasok getting just 32% to 34.5% between them, down from 77.4% at the last polls in 2009.
New Democracy, led by Antonis Samaras, remained the largest party but it fell short of an absolute majority in parliament.
It would therefore be tough for Mr Samaras, once he is officially tasked to do so by the president, to form a government able to keep its austerity promises and implement more cuts demanded by the country's creditors.
Athens has already committed to finding in June another €11.5bn in savings through 2014.
New Democracy obtained about a fifth of support this time, short of the 37% needed for an absolute majority in parliament and down from 33.5% three years ago.
The other main player Pasok saw its score slump to 13-14% from 43.9%. The party even looked set to be relegated to third place by the leftist Syriza, which scored 15.5-17.0%, more than triple the 4.6% of 2009.
"The ruling parties have been struck by an earthquake. It has crushed Pasok and sent a strong tremor through New Democracy," shadow foreign minister Panos Panagiotopoulos said on television channel Mega.
Panayotis Petrakis, economics professor at Athens University, expressed hope however that new French president-elect Francois Hollande "would prevent Europe treating us too harshly. There is still a little room for manoeuvre."
Mr Petrakis told AFP that the most likely outcome was another "government of technocrats" headed again by outgoing premier Lucas Papademos, or fresh elections.
Evangelos Venizelos, Pasok leader and the finance minister who negotiated the second bailout, called for a "national unity government" among pro-European parties but admitted this might be "clearly difficult."
Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was also set to enter parliament for the first time since the end of the military junta in 1974, with 6.5-7.5%, making it the sixth-biggest party in the 300-seat chamber with some 20 lawmakers.
Leader Nikos Michaloliakos said his party would fight against "world usurers" and the "slavery" of an EU-IMF loan agreement he likened to a "dictatorship".
"The time for fear has come," he said.
The fourth-biggest party was set to be Independent Greeks with 10-11%, a new right-wing party set up by New Democracy dissident Panos Kammenos, followed by the communist KKE on 8.0-9.5%.
The Democratic Left, a Europhile new leftist party, notched up 5.5-6.5%. In total seven parties were set to enter parliament compared with just five after the last election.
