Greek conservatives, leftists almost tied: exit poll

 By Karolina Tagaris and Harry Papachristou

ATHENS | Sun Jun 17, 2012 12:25pm EDT

(Reuters) - Greece's election, which has captured the eyes of the world, is too close to call with the conservative New Democracy party barely ahead of radical leftist SYRIZA in a vote that could decide whether the country stays in the euro zone.

A joint exit poll by five pollsters, published as voting closed on Sunday, showed New Democracy taking between 27.5 percent and 30.5 percent of the vote. SYRIZA was essentially level with 27-30 percent, followed by the PASOK Socialists taking 10-12 percent of the vote.

SYRIZA has vowed to tear up the terms of an EU/IMF bailout package keeping Greece from bankruptcy, potentially sending the country crashing out of Europe's single currency. New Democracy broadly backs the bailout, as does PASOK.

The party that comes in first secures a dividend of 50 parliamentary seats which will be crucial to its chances of forming a new government.

Exit polls in an earlier May 6 election, which produced stalemate, gave a good indication of the way the vote had gone. The official projection, which is expected at 9.30 p.m. (1830 GMT), was very close to the final result.

Greece's lenders say a new government must accept the conditions of a 130-billion-euro ($164-billion) Greek bailout agreed in March or funds will be cut off, driving Athens into bankruptcy.

A Greek euro exit has the potential to unleash shocks that could even break up Europe's single currency and plunge the world economy into chaos.

"If we were in the United States, we would say it's too close to call and decline to publish a forecast," said Costas Panagopoulos of pollster Alco.

All the main parties say they will keep Greece in the single currency, but SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras believes he can renegotiate the deal. He is betting that European leaders cannot afford the financial market turmoil that would be unleashed by cutting a member of the euro zone loose.

Tsipras, a 37-year old former communist student radical, has shot from obscurity to global celebrity in a matter of weeks.

On the right, establishment heir and New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says rejection of the EU/IMF bailout would mean a return to the drachma and even greater calamity, although he, too, wants to ease some aspects of the package.

Opinion polls show Greeks, weary and disillusioned after five years of deep recession, overwhelmingly favor remaining in the euro, but there is bitter anger over repeated rounds of tax hikes, slashed spending and sharp cuts in wages and pensions.

Many voters are also furious with New Democracy and the other traditional ruling party, PASOK, blaming them for decades of corruption and waste which have left them with a ruined economy and one of the heaviest debt burdens in the world.

($1 = 0.7939 euros)

(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; Writing by Matt Robinson and James Mackenzie, editing by Mike Peacock)