Tight Race Expected at Greece's Bailout Referendum

The outcome of Sunday's referendum in Greece on the bailout proposals made by the country's international lenders is too close to call, opinion polls suggest.

The latest voter intention polls, published late on Friday, showed Greeks were almost evenly divided in their preferences whether to accept the creditors' proposal that demands more austerity in exchange for more bailout funding.

A GPO poll put the 'Yes' voters at 44.1% and the 'No' at 43.7%, while an Alco survey found 44.5% would vote 'Yes' while 43.9% would vote 'No'.

According to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who surprisingly called the referendum last week, the vote is needed to force creditors to finally accept his key demand of another round of debt relief to save Greece from financial catastrophe and possibly exiting the eurozone.

The Greek government broke off talks on the rescue plan proposed by the creditors just days before the country was due to repay EUR 1.5 B to the IMF. In the absence of an agreement for continued bailout funding after 30 June, Greece defaulted on its IMF debt payment the same day. A day earlier it was forced on 29 June to impose capital controls and shut banks to halt a bank runas worried Greeks rushed to withdraw money.

Critics, however, say the question at the referendum is unintelligible, and that the bailout deal it asks voters to accept or reject already expired on 30 June.

The government is asking Greeks the following complex question: "Should the proposal that was submitted by the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund at the Eurogroup of 25 June 2015, which consists of two parts that together constitute their comprehensive proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled ...