The leftwing Syriza party is set to return to power in Greece after its closest rival conceded defeat in the general election.<br />The leader of the centre-right New Democracy party said Syriza, led by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, had come first in the poll with early results showing that it had taken about 35% of the vote.<br />“The election result seems shows that the first party is Syriza and Tsipras.<br />I congratulate him,” said Vangelis Meimarakis.<br />The latest projection puts Syriza on 144 seats in the 300-seat parliament, paving the way for the party to reform its coalition with the rightwing, anti-austerity Independent Greeks party.<br />The landslide victory in January by Tsipras marked the first time the radical left formed the government in a country where the communist party was banned in the aftermath of the brutal 1946-49 civil war.
