With 99,5 per cent of the votes counted, Syriza won 35,5 per cent of the votes, easily beating New Democracy, its major rival; Alexis Tsipras will now form a government with the support of Independent Greeks.
But what does the Syriza victory mean to the Greeks?
Unfortunately, not much. Alexis Tsipras campaigned on a pledge to implement the 86 billion euro bail out and although he promised to protect some vulnerable segments of Greek society, he will have to impose harsh austerity that includes further tax rises, pension reforms and social welfare cuts.
Nearly half of Greek households lived below the poverty line in 2013 and unemployment has rocketed from about 7 per cent in may 2008 to over 25 per cent in June 2015.
Since 2010 salaries and pensions have been cut by 44 per cent and families have lost one third of their income.
The new austerity is expected to burden further the already impoverished Greeks.
About fifty measures and reforms have to be implemented by December as required by the bailout program Athens signed in July. The representatives of Greece’s international lenders — the European Commission, European Central Bank, International Monetary Fund and European Stability Mechanism — will be in Athens next month to review the progress of the measures. They will also have to ensure the implementation of about a hundred more measures in 2016 that the Greek government has committed to.
Greece's creditors wasted no time in reminding Tsipras, right after the election results were announced, that now he has to get down to work pushing through the reforms they have demanded.
Greek newly elected Parliament that will convene beginnings of October, will have to revise the 2015 budget taking into account new austerity measures and reforms.
Some of the new measures have already been voted in Greek Parliament in August and will apply as of October. Those include the solidarity tax that will be permanently incorporated in the income tax, abolition of several tax benefits, new luxury taxes, increase of farmers’ taxes from 13 to 20 percent, increase on taxes from rent from 11 to 15 percent. Further pension cuts are expected to be implemented, supplementary pensions will get a haircut, and the cuts will apply retroactively from July 1, 2015.
The government must also finalise a procedure to recapitulate Greek banks by December, before new EU-wide bank rescue regulations that could affect depositors come into play in 2016.