The No vote is ahead of the YES vote with 51.5% against and 48.5%, according to a GPO poll that was conducted on Saturday and Sunday and that was published by MEGA television station. The poll is based on phone calls made to 2,000 people until 4 p.m. Sunday. As the executive consultant of GPO, Mr. Theodorikakos, explains, due to the very short period between the announcement and the date the referendum takes place on, as well as the fact that citizens have two choices — Yes and No — and not more, as is usually the case in general elections, it was not possible to set up exit polls. A first secure estimation of the result is expected to be given at 9 p.m. NO is leading in the polls of the other major Greek television channels. According to ANT1 the NO vote accounts for 49% ,while the YES vote accounts for 46%. Alpha news network puts the NO vote somewhere between 49.5% and 54.5% and the YES vote between 45.5% and 50.5%. Star channel gives the NO vote 49% to 54% and the YES vote 46% to 51%. The first part is now over. The only referendum in Greece since 1974, successfully concluded on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. The referendum asked voters to accept or reject a bailout deal proposed by the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, last week. The referendum was organized within a week, a period well below the 20 days most elections take to be organized. The Greek parliament’s ratification of the referendum on last Saturday evening triggered a series of events that made up for a very long week in Greece. On Sunday, the European Central Bank decided to not increase the European Liquidity Assistance to Greek banks and in response the government imposed capital controls and withdrawal restrictions on the same evening that are scheduled to be lifted on July 7. On Tuesday Prime Minister Tsipras requested a two year deal with the ESM which led to urgent Eurogroup meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. The outcome of the meetings was to postpone any further talks on the Greek request until after the referendum. The voting process went smoothly without report of any problems. Stavros Theodorakis, the leader of the Potami party, was verbally attacked by around 30 voters in the voting station when he went to cast his ballot but there was no further incidents.
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT greece.greekreporter.com |
