Refarendum Greece

Greece referendum: Greeks in decisive vote
Millions of Greeks are voting in a crucial referendum on
whether to accept the terms of an international bailout.
Polling stations opened at 07:00 local time (04:00 GMT),
with the first results expected on Sunday evening.
The government has urged a "No" vote, but opponents warn
this could see Greece ejected from the eurozone.
Greeks appear evenly divided over the issue, according to
opinion polls. Turnout is expected to be high, after a frenetic
week of campaigning.
Leaders in the governing radical-left Syriza party have
criticised the bailout terms as humiliating. They say rejecting
the terms could give them more leverage in talks over the
country's massive debt.
"No one can ignore the determination of a people taking its
destiny in its own hands," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said,
after casting his ballot on Sunday.
However, international creditors have warned that a "No"
vote could choke off vital funding for Greek banks and lead
to "Grexit - a chaotic departure from the common European
currency. The "Yes" campaign has framed the vote as a
referendum on Greek membership of the eurozone.
Supporters of both sides held rallies in Athens on Friday.
Banks stayed shut because of capital controls imposed after
the expiry of the current bailout programme.
At the scene: The BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens
Under a cloudless sky they are streaming into this Athens
polling station on a day that will shape the fate of Greece
and of Europe. It is the climax of the Greek debt story: when
this nation will accept or reject the entire eurozone strategy
of the past five years.
If Greeks say "Yes", it would be hard to see this government
staying put, having led the campaign against the measures.
If it is a "No", emergency funds to Greek banks would be in
jeopardy and eurozone leaders say a euro exit would be
hastened. That's simply scaremongering, says the Greek
government. But if negotiations do resume, there will be
plenty of bad blood.
This campaign has profoundly divided Greeks. Tassos,
voting "Yes", told me that Greece belongs in Europe. On the
other side, 83-year-old Anastasia told me she couldn't
survive on her meagre pension and was voting "for my
homeland".
Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told local media on
Saturday that the EU had "no legal grounds" to throw Greece
out of the euro.
On the eve of the referendum, he accused Athens' creditors
of trying to sow fear around the vote. He told Spain's El
Mundo newspaper (in Spanish): "Why did they force us to
close the banks? To instil fear in people. And spreading fear
is called terrorism."
Mr Varoufakis said that the banks in Greece would reopen on
Tuesday whatever the outcome and that Greek Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras would still reach an agreement with
creditors if the result was "No" in the referendum.
Meanwhile, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble,
one of Greece's harshest critics, suggested that if Greece
were to leave the eurozone, it might only be temporary.
"Whether with the euro or temporarily without it: only the
Greeks can answer this question," he told the German
newspaper Bild. "And it is clear that we will not leave the
people in the lurch."
Ballot paper question
"Must the agreement plan submitted by the European
Commission, the European Central Bank and the
International Monetary Fund to the Eurogroup of 25 June,
2015, and comprised of two parts which make up their joint
proposal, be accepted? The first document is titled "reforms
for the completion of the current programme and beyond"
and the second "Preliminary debt sustainability analysis".
Voters must check one of two boxes - "not approved/no" or,
below it, "approved/yes"