New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras faces a daunting task after his pro-euro party won the Greek elections over the weekends: form a coalition government in three days, and do it without the help of the party that finished second in the vote. Alexis Tsipras, leader of the leftist Syriza, said Monday that his party would form the opposition.

Samaras’ next step is to meet with Evangelos Venizelos, who leads the socialist Pasok party.

With the fate of the euro possibly hanging in the balance, what happens in Greece over the next few days will most certainly reverberate around the entire world.

— Posted by Tracy Bloom

BBC News:

With almost all ballots counted, New Democracy has 29.7% of the vote (129 seats), Syriza 26.9% (71) and Pasok 12.3% (33).

There are 300 seats in parliament and Greece has a rule that gives the leading party 50 extra seats.

However, correspondents point out that only 40% of voters backed parties that broadly support the bailout deal with the EU and the IMF.

Nevertheless, many world leaders hailed the election result.

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#alexis tsipras#election#euro#greece#greek debt crisis#politics