Greece: No camp ahead in final polls
The last opinion polls showed the No vote leading by a small margin as Greeks voted in a referendum that could decide whether the country stays in the eurozone.
Leading members of the ruling left-wing Syriza government cast their votes this morning, calling for Greeks to vote No, rejecting an offer from the country’s international lenders that they say would unfairly condemn the country to years of austerity.
Three opinion polls by GPO, Metron Analysis and MRB all showed the No camp ahead by three points. A survey by Marc estimated 49.5 to 54.5 per cent of Greeks voted No compared to 45.5 to 50.5 percent voting Yes’ based on polls done through the week. But no exit polls have been released.
Prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: “Today the Greek people send a very powerful message of dignity and determination. A message saying they are making their own choices.”
Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis was confronted by an angry voter after he was filmed at a polling station.
The man asked Mr Varoufakis “what kind of modest living is this?” before saying: “I will vote Yes. I want to see how you will use that yes.”
The minister replied: “We gave the possibility to the person who was angry with us to vote Yes. And I have said publicly, and I repeat it again, that if they say Yes, I will stop being finance minister tomorrow.”
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Some commentators have criticised the wording on ballot papers, which asks voters to approve or reject the terms of a debt repayment agreement offered by the European Union.
Dimitris Sotiropoulos, associate professor of political science at the University of Athens, said: “The phrasing contains a long paragraph, including some words in English, and actually asks the Greeks to vote first on a list of proposals, which were prior to the last list of proposals submitted by the European Union to Greece, but was not even the last one.
“And in addition, the same paragraph on the ballot asks Greeks to decide Yes or No on an apparently very useful scientific paper, which is a sustainability analysis of the Greek debt.
“This is, I guess, the first time in the world that an electorate is called upon to decide whether a paper should be approved or disapproved. I hope it doesn’t happen with my papers.”
But voters in the port of Piraeus told Channel 4 News they understood the question, and most said they would be voting No.
One woman said: “The question was very, very clear. Do you agree with the austerity measures – yes or no? Our answer was that we don’t agree to the austerity measures.”