CRI听力:Greece Election: Polls Close with Anti-Austerity Syriza Predicted to Win

The anti-austerity Syriza party is on course to win a decisive victory in Greece's national elections, a result many political analysts believe will send shockwaves through Europe.

The most recent exit poll projected Syriza to get between 36 percent and 38 per cent of the vote.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' conservative New Democracy party is at a distant second, with 23 percent and 27 percent.

Samaras has conceded defeat.

Syriza supporters celebrated the result in Athens, many waving flags or holding placards asking for change in Europe.

"I believe in those of us who lived through this struggle. Those of us who fought the struggle with our country for the last five years shouldn't simply be happy, we should be satisfied and proud. I believe we are able to change not only Greece but we can change Europe and these policies of monopoly."

Speaking afterwards, Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras pledged to restore Greece's dignity after what he called "five years of humiliation and pain" brought by the austerity measures.

However, it is still unclear if the party has won by a big enough margin over New Democracy to govern alone.

The Interior Ministry says that its projections show Syriza gaining 150 of the 300 seats in parliament, one short of the majority it needs to govern alone.

If Syriza forms a government, it will be the first time in Greece's modern history that a Left party governs since World War II.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras has promised to renegotiate the country's 240 billion-euro international bailout deal and seek forgiveness for most of Greece's massive debt load.

He has also pledged to reverse many of the reforms that creditors demanded in exchange for keeping Greece financially afloat since 2010.

The anti-bailout rhetoric has renewed doubts over Greece's ability to emerge from its financial crisis that has seen a quarter of its economy wiped out, sent unemployment soaring and average income plummeting.