Greek pro-bailout parties secure ruling majority

Parties supporting a bailout saving Greece from bankruptcy won a slim parliamentary majority, beating radical leftists who rejected austerity and bringing relief to the euro zone which was braced for fresh financial turmoil.

The election result looked likely to yield a coalition government led by conservative New Democracy but leaves an emboldened SYRIZA bloc to rally angry opposition in the streets to the punishing terms of the bailout.

Official results released by the interior ministry, with 97 percent of ballots counted, showed New Democracy taking 29.7 percent of the vote, with SYRIZA on 26.9. The PASOK Socialists were set to take 12.3 percent of the vote.

Because of a 50-seat bonus given to the party which comes first, that would give New Democracy and PASOK 162 seats in the 300-seat parliament, in an alliance broadly committed to the 130 billion euros ($164 billion) bailout.

Germany signalled there may be some leeway on the timeframe for cuts demanded in return for the aid.

The result buys time for the euro zone, which was braced for a SYRIZA victory and the prospect of having to cut debt-ridden Greece loose, potentially unleashing shocks that could break up the single currency.

But it exposed a deeply divided society, seething over the wage, job and pension cuts imposed as the price of two EU/IMF bailouts since 2010 totalling 240 billion euros.

The savage austerity has helped condemn Greece to five years of record recession and plummeting living standards.

Any new government could find its tenure short-lived. New Democracy and PASOK are unlikely to have won much more than 40 percent of the vote between them.

"The Greek people voted today to stay on the European course and remain in the euro zone," New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras, 61, told jubilant supporters. "There will be no more adventures, Greece's place in Europe will not be put in doubt."

The euro climbed and world stock markets looked set to make gains on the back of the result.

With leaders of the Group of 20 world economic powers convening in Mexico for a meeting on Monday, a statement from the Group of Seven major nations said it was in "all our interests" for Greece to remain in the euro zone while respecting its international bailout commitments.