LIVE BLOG on Greek elections, June 17

01:50 Election Results in a nutshell 
Here's a recap of the day's main highlights

• Check here the latest official updates on election results from Ministry of Interior's webpage.
• As there is no outright winner securing 151 seats, leader of pro-bailout "New Democracy" A. Samaras, will receive a formal mandate from President Karolos Papoulias on Monday morning to form a coalition government. Some members estimate that might get back individual support from ex-comrades who switched to Independent Greeks thus putting its cohesiveness at risk.
• Although physical assaults on left-wing politicians and immigrants made headlines, it seems that neonazi Golden Dawn's voters are engaged with the party's rhetoric and practices.
• Communist Party KKE has hit a record low.
• A few who voted for right-wing anti-bailout Independent Greeks during last elections switched to Syriza and New Democracy, dropping down the party's rating.
• Although left-wing Syriza came second, the party managed to raise the percentage of the vote from 4,6% in 2009 to 27,1% in 2012. Syriza has rejected any coalition with a pro-bailout party.
• PASOK is keen to join forces with New Democracy, Syriza and Democratic Left with Venizelos apparently denying that Syriza's collaboration is a strong prerequisite. 

23:00 Aleka Papariga, Head of Greece's Communist Party (KKE) which saw its popularity crumbling profoundly within the latest 6 weeks, underlined the knock-on effect this would have on society. She gave a clear warning that peoples needs will not be met either with New Democracy or Syriza on board which seems to have compromised its rhetoric.


22:39 Alexis Tsipras leader of left wing party Syriza delivered a speech to the press saying that futrure political developments will prove that Syriza's remains the most viable solution for Greece and Europe. With strong conviction that the future belongs to those seeking for inspiration and not the fearful, he pledged to be present as a force of political opposition to the designated government. "We are happy that people raised up our ratings" he said, adding that Syriza has been established as a key voice of progressive politics. 


22:20 Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece's main conservative party New Democracy and winner of elections delivered a victory speech both in Greek and English to the Press in Zapeion, Athens. 
He underlined that Greeks voted in favor of Euro indeed which is a victory for the European Union as a whole. He expressed he will be respectful of written pledges ie. bailout agreement that Tsipras strives to tear up. Samaras attempted to reassure that peoples sacrifices will reach an end. 


22:17 PASOK reportedly keen for a coalition with New Democracy, Syriza and Democratic Left
22:04 An elections' rep of New Democracy is accused for deceiving vote processing in the area of Lamia.


22:06 Election Results from Ministry of Interior


Party      Seats    Share

	131	30,37 %
	69	26,18 %
	34	12,73 %
	20	7,44 %
	18	6,97 %
	16	6,03 %
	12	4,44 %

21:52 Alexis Tsipras reportedly rang Samaras expressing his opposition against a a pro-bailout agreement coalition. 


21:25 Ministry of Interior rep confirmed on TV that they don't expect any profound changes upon the number of parties exceeding 3% threshold for parliament representation. To this end it seems there'll be 7 parties: New Democracy, Syriza, PASOK, Independent Greeks, Golden Dawn, Democratic Left, Communist Party of Greece (KKE)


21:18 PASOK rep confirmed that the party will not join a coalition government unless Syriza is in it.


21:06 Although Independent Greeks saw a fall in vote share, the party seems confident as it managed to secure its electoral backbone. A close aide of Panos Kammenos spoke to the press confirming that the party is keen to support a government that will condemn the bailout agreements.


20:54 First results show left wing Syriza ahead in the following areas: Attiki, Achaia, Kerkyra, Lasithi, Chania, Heraklion, Rethymno 


20:37 Apparently PASOK, KKE and Independent Greeks saw their popularity being dropped during these elections. However New Democracy along with PASOK can form a coalition government securing 159 seats


19:50 The election saw a swing from Independent Greeks to New Democracy and Syriza. Exit poll data now showing 13,4% of PASOK voters and 23,6% of KKE switching to Syriza.


19:27 It is estimated that neonazi Golden Dawn voters are heavily engaged with the party as its share of votes remains on the same level as in previous elections. Nikos Michaloliakos, Golden Dawn's Head, spoke to the media and greeted all voters who did not switch to another party, underlying that Golden Dawn not only stood firm amid climate of fear, but saw its number of votes increased. He pledged to keep fighting for toppling "nation's slayer" - the bailout agreement - and expressed in a sarcastic mood his condolences as the party seems to become the 4th in popularity.


In the mean time two masked people reportedly smashed the ballot box inside the 18th polling station in the district of Exarchia, central Athens, whilst two policemen were beaten.


19:13 It seems that voters in the capital city switched to New Democracy and those in the province to Syriza. The party with most of the votes shall have a bonus of extra 50 parliamentary seats 


19:00 First Exit Poll Results: 
New Democracy 27,5-30,5%
Syriza: 27-30%
PASOK 10-12%
Independent Greeks 6-7,5%
Golden Dawn 6-7,5%
Democratic Left 5,5-6,5%
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) 5-6%

Following 6 weeks of media frenzy over today’s elections, the final curtain will be dropped when the ballot closes at 19:00 (local time) and the first exit poll results come out. An update follows one hour later at 20:00 with the official outcome expected to be released around 21:30 according to Singular Logic. The company operates in the IT sector and has been assigned the task of collecting, processing and presenting the election results by the Ministry of Interior. 

This post will be updated from 19:00 onward, attempting to wrap up citizen journalists verified tweets using the hashtag #rbnews that could be found here. Radiobubble's twitter feed has also been embedded in "The Guardian" newspaper's blog. If anything interesting or newsworthy please feel free to share it by mentioning @radiobubblenews on twitter or drop us a line at info@radiobubble.gr. Bear in mind that #rbnews hashtag is only for news updates so it would be much appreciated if kept like that.