Greeks vote in 2nd round of general elections

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - Greek polls opened on Sunday at 7 a.m. 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 May elections.

Latest polls suggested that the New Democracy party leads with 21.5 percentage points over its main opposition, leftist SYRIZA.

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.