Greek leftist leader Alexis Tsipras promised on Sunday that five years of austerity, "humiliation and suffering" imposed by international creditors were over after his Syriza party swept to victory in a snap election on Sunday.
With over 99% of the vote counted, Syriza had 149 seats in the 300-seat parliament, taking 36.3% of the vote, 8.5 points ahead of the conservative New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Tsipras is expected to hold coalition talks on Monday with the small Independent Greeks party which, like Syriza, opposes Greece's bailout deal with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
While Tsipras fell just short of an overall majority, he is set to lead the first euro-zone government committed to overturning the kind of budgetary rigour that was imposed on Greece as a condition of the bailout in 2010.
Syriza's victory marks a flat rejection of the model for troubled euro-zone economies championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It is also likely to strengthen calls for the euro-zone to move towards policies which promote economic growth, rather that tackling budget deficits.
Syriza's campaign slogan "Hope is coming!" resonated with voters worn down by huge budget cuts and heavy tax rises during the years of crisis that have sent unemployment over 25% and pushed millions into poverty.
