Greeks are casting their ballots at voting stations in the first election since their country’s economy ceased to be subject to strict supervision and control by international lenders to decide whether to renew the tenure of incumbent PM Mitsotakis or turn left and vote for SYRIZA.

The vote pits conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 55, a Harvard-educated former banking executive, against 48-year-old Alexis Tsipras, who heads the left-wing Syriza party and served as prime minister during some of the financial crisis’s most turbulent years, as the two main contenders.

According to the reports, 31.52% of those registered in 16,520 polling stations have cast their vote. “We decided to give the second announcement once and for all, where about 80% of the electoral divisions participate in it,” said the Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior. At the same time, according to the information, the next update is expected around 17:00.

Immediately after the closing of the polls, at 19:00 on Sunday afternoon, the first results from 200 small polling stations will be tabulated, while at approximately 19:30 the mass sending of results from the polling stations to the central system will begin.

According to the managers of Singular Logic, at approximately 20:30 in the evening, the first estimate of the election result will be made and until 10 the estimate will be updated as a larger percentage of votes will have been incorporated.

“Participation is the best confirmation for Democracy”, said Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who exercised her right to vote in the 104th electoral division, in the 44th primary school of Athens. while for his part Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasised that “an even better day will dawn”. The president of SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, from Kypseli, where he voted, emphasised that “change is today in the hands of our people”.