Anti-austerity party wins Greek election

European politics was turned upside down on Sunday when Syriza, the left wing Greek party, vowing to take an anti-austerity path, won that country's general election.

With nearly all of the votes counted, Syriza looks set to have 149 seats, just two short of an absolute majority. The governing centre-right New Democracy came a distant second.

Outgoing Prime Minister Antonis Samaras admitted defeat and phoned Mr Tsipras to congratulate him.

Alexis Tsipras, the victorious Syriza's party leader, vowed to end the country's "five years of humiliation and pain." Before cheering supporters, he again pledged to renegotiate Greece's massive international bailout.

Syriza's victory has raised fears about Greece's future in the euro.

Greece has endured tough budget cuts in return for its 2010 bailout, worth €240bn (£179bn; $268bn) and negotiated with the so-called troika - the European Union, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB).

The economy has shrunk drastically since the 2008 global financial crisis, and increasing unemployment has thrown many Greeks into poverty.

The election result will have put in doubt European consensus on how to handle the eurozone economic crisis.

A majority of voters in Greece have essentially rejected a core policy for dealing with the crisis as devised by Brussels and Berlin, according to the BBC.

The election result is expected to be one of the main issues at Monday's meeting of 19 eurozone finance ministers.

In Germany, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said he hoped "the new Greek government will not make promises it cannot keep and the country cannot afford".

SOURCE: BBC