Second Cabinet of Alexis Tsipras

SYRIZA chief Alexis Tsipras refuted speculation that he may step down from the helm of the main opposition after suffering a second defeat in Sunday's ballot. 

"I will be judged the members of the party," Tsipras said in comments at SYRIZA headquarters in downtown Athens, indicating that a congress will be called within the next few months to decide on the leftists' fate.

Polls in Greece closed at 7 p.m. on Sunday, and the exit polls show New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his conservative New Democracy defeating Alexis Tsipras' leftist SYRIZA party and securing an outright majority in Parliament. Stay with our live blog for the most up-to-date news and developments as results come in.

• 9,813,595 million Greek citizens are eligible to vote in the elections; Greeks living abroad have already cast their votes.
• Running for office are 32 parties, four coalitions of parties and two individuals standing as independents.

Greeks went to the polls on Sunday for the second time in little over a month to elect a new parliament, with voters expected to give former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservatives a second term in office.

Greeks were voting Sunday in the second general election in less than two months, with the conservative party in power for the last four years a strong favorite to win with a wide majority.

Following is the political backdrop to Greece's parliamentary election on Sunday. Opinion polls show former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' New Democracy party winning by a wide margin over the leftist Syriza party, which ruled in 2015-2019 at the peak of the Greek debt crisis.

May election

Former Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' conservatives appear set to win a repeat election in Greece on Sunday after an inconclusive vote on May 21, putting him back in office.

SYRIZA - Progressive Alliance President Alexis Tsipras accused New Democracy leader and prime minister at the time Kyriakos Mitsotakis of lying and saying that he informed him before the election about alleged machinations of the Turkish consulate in the region of Rhodope in support of Muslim SYRIZA candidates.

A leadership change in the main opposition party, left-wing SYRIZA, will have to wait until the June 25 election, if at all.

Greece's leftists will receive an official mandate on Tuesday to form a coalition government after an inconclusive national election, but are expected to seek a second vote instead.

The conservative New Democracy party romped to victory with 40.8% of the vote in Sunday's poll which sent the leftist SYRIZA into a tailspin after taking 20.1% of the vote.