Greek voters have voted against the bail out package proposed by the Europe, say reports.
Thanking voters for making what he termed “a very brave choice,” Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the “no” result in the bailout referendum showed that “democracy won’t be blackmailed.”
He said that Greece was willing to return to talks, but “this time the issue of debt will be on the negotiating table.”
He was speaking in a live TV address on Sunday after the government-backed “no” side won by a wide margin in the referendum.
He said, “”Today we celebrate the victory of democracy, but tomorrow all together we continue and complete a national effort for exiting this crisis.”
Figures published by the interior ministry showed nearly 62% of those whose ballots had been counted voting “No”, against 38% voting “Yes”.
Greece’s governing Syriza party had campaigned for a “No”, saying the bailout terms were humiliating. Opposition parties felt that this result in the referendum could ensure that Greece was ejected out of the Eurozone.
Greece had been locked in negotiations with its creditors for months when the Greek PM unexpectedly called a referendum as the terms it was being offered wasn’t acceptable to him.
Banks have been shut and capital controls in place since last Monday, after the European Central Bank declined to give Greece more emergency funding.
Withdrawals at cash machines have been limited to €60 per day. Greece’s latest bailout expired on Tuesday and Greece missed a €1.6bn (£1.1bn) payment to the IMF.