UPDATE - Greeks head to polls to elect new government

UPDATES WITH BACKGROUND OF MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER, STATEMENTS FROM LEADERS

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - With polls pointing to an upset for the ruling party, Greeks Sunday have started to vote in the country's snap general elections to choose a new government and parliament.

Current Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras requested the dissolution of parliament and snap polls following his left-wing Syriza party’s poor performance in May's European elections, where his party finished second, runner-up to the conservative New Democracy party.

Nearly 10 million registered voters are casting their votes at 21,478 polling places to elect 300 lawmakers for a four-year term.

Under the Constitution, a party must have a nationwide vote tally of at least 3% in order to elect members of parliament.

Polls opened at 7.00 a.m. (0400GMT) and will close at 7.00 p.m. local time (1600GMT). Preliminary poll results are expected to start coming in around 9.30 p.m. local time. (2030GMT)

A total of 20 parties will contest in the election. However, the New Democracy party led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis is ahead of the ruling Syriza Party by at least 8%, according to the latest opinion poll by Pulse for Skai TV.

Mitsotakis, 51, the son of former Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis, looks likely to form a new one-party government.

Tsipras had promised to form an anti-bailout government, but disappointed many of his supporters by imposing more austerity measures and extra taxes, as well as by signing onto a name-change agreement with Greece’s neighbor North Macedonia.

“I call on the Greek people to come to the polls to make this critical decision for the future of our country,” Tsipras told reporters after casting his ballot in Athens.

“Elections are a celebration of democracy. I respect the public’s will,” Mitsotakis said after casting his vote.

Tsipras, who has served as premier since 2015, faced difficulty due to the economy as well as the name agreement with Greece’s neighbor North Macedonia, which was controversial domestically.

Tsipras won praise from Western leaders over the name change, which allowed the former Macedonia to seek NATO and EU membership, but faced criticism at home, especially from conservative groups.

His party stormed to power in 2015 after Greece buckled under painful economic reforms and austerity measures, forcing it to sign for more than €260 billion in rescue funds from the eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund.

*Zehra Nur Duz from Ankara contributed to the story.