The way the Greek election worked is that Syriza, the far-left party, said they would completely renegotiate the bailout terms that forced austerity on the country. New Democracy, the center-right legacy party that was part of the grand coalition that negotiated the bailout in the first place, countered that they too would seek a renegotiation, muddying the contrast between the two parties. New Democracy claimed that their terms would be responsible, while Syriza’s intransigence would get Greece tossed out of the euro. A spooked public then narrowly chose New Democracy, based at least in part on these points.

Just a few weeks after the election, it turns out it was all a game.

With 71% of the vote in, the center-right New Democracy Party has a small but sustainable lead in the Greek Parliamentary elections. They hold 30.1% of the vote to 26.5% for the left-wing Syriza party. Pasok, the center-left party, holds third with 12.6%, the Democratic Left came in fourth with 7.5%, and the neo-Nazis in Golden Dawn have enough votes to enter Parliament, with around 7%.

Early exit polling from Greece, in the second election to try to form a government in as many months, shows an incredibly narrow race between the center-right New Democracy party and the far-left Syriza party. It raises the possibility that no single party could form a government again, which would mean yet another potential round of voting, and the attendant uncertainty.

We’re just two days away from a consequential vote in Greece. The lack of polling over the last two weeks and the closeness of the race between the far-left, anti-austerity Syriza, and the center-right, pro-bailout New Democracy, makes the outcome a genuine question.

The Greeks themselves don’t believe the outcome will lead to a Eurozone exit; but if Syriza emerges victorious, the Eurozone leadership could basically make it impossible for them to stay.

With apologies to Wisconsin, we’re a little less than two weeks away from the most important election of the year. It’s happening in Greece, where you have a contest that will likely determine the future of that country, and by proxy the future of Europe. The far-left Syriza party and the center-right New Democracy have been locked in a tight struggle for weeks in this second-round Parliamentary election.

In the US, Republicans like to call accurate descriptions of their plans to destroy our old-age health care system the “Mediscare.” Putting aside the accuracy part, I guess we can call EU leaders’ apparently somewhat successful effort to influence the Greek elections the “Euroscare.” The effect has been to increase polls for parties claiming they’ll support the austerity measures, because Greeks are being told that’s essential to stay within the Euro.

We’ll probably get the final word today, but I think it’s safe to say there will not be a Greek government forming out of the most recent elections. After the top three vote-getting parties each tried and failed to form a government, the Greek President made one last plea to amass a government of national unity among a clatch of parties. However, The Radical Coalition of the Left, or Syriza, never attended the talks.