Greece will hold a snap parliamentary election on May 6. The election comes after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos’s technocratic interim government completed its mandate by signing an austerity deal with foreign creditors. In polls released April 20 — Greek law forbids public opinion surveys starting two weeks before the election — the electorate appears splintered. Among the congested field of 32 parties, eight to 10 of them look likely to meet the 5% threshold needed to elect deputies to the 300-seat parliament. The conservative New Democracy party, headed by Antonis Samaras, led the pack. The stakes are high: if factions vehemently opposed to the edicts of austerity gain significant ground, the biggest debt restructuring in history could be put in jeopardy.
Ballot Box Watch: Your Guide to May Elections
Global Spin previews the pick of this month's exercises in democracy