ADDS REMARKS BY MITSOTAKIS, TSIPRAS, CITIZENS
By Ahmet Gencturk and Magda Panoutsopolou
ATHENS (AA) - Greek polls opened on Sunday at 7 a.m. local time (0500GMT) for the second time in five weeks to decide who will lead the country for the next four years.
Former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the most likely winner according to the latest polls and on the previous elections result, fell short of the outright majority needed to form a government in the May elections.
The latest polls suggested that the New Democracy party is leading with 21.5 percentage points over its main opposition, leftist SYRIZA.
"We are voting for the second time in a few weeks for the country to have a stable and effective government with a four-year horizon. I am absolutely certain that the citizens will do their duty with maturity and will vote for their personal prosperity, for their own good and the good of their families, for a stable country that will finally offer conditions of prosperity and social equality for all Greeks,” Mitsotakis said after casting his vote at in the northern suburbs.
Casting his vote in a school in the western neighborhood of Peristeri in Athens, the leader of the main opposition SYRIZA party, Alexis Tsipras, stressed that Greek democracy needs a strong opposition to control the government.
“SYRIZA is the only force that can reliably play this role, support the needs of society, represent the social majority, and also play a balancing role in the political system and democracy,” he added.
After casting her vote, Elena Triperina, a citizen, told Anadolu: “We are waiting for a stable government, I voted for the party ND and I'm anticipating that he will continue to do what he didn’t have time to finish in the previous four-year term."
Another citizen, Vassilopoulos Panagiotis, told Anadolu: “Stability and normality and a better quality of life for all Greeks, this is what I want."
This time with the new electoral system, the winning party will receive a bonus of 20 seats outright if it gets at least 25% of the vote, and can get up to 50 seats if it gets about 40% of the vote.
A total of 9,813,595 Greek citizens are registered to vote at 21,634 voting centers throughout Greece, according to the Interior Ministry.
On Saturday, more than 25,600 Greeks living abroad voted in the second round.
The first exit poll is expected to be released at around 8 p.m. local time (1800GMT), while polls will close an hour before that.