With several hours to go before polling stations close in Greece's bailout referendum, voting was proceeding smoothly on Sunday afternoon, Greek news agency ANA-MPA reported.

Sources put voter turnout “at a similar level” to the January election when participation was 65%, which means that Sunday's turnout is likely to exceed the 40% threshold needed to declare the outcome of the referendum valid, ANA-MPA said.

With voting in Greece being mandatory, high turnouts are normal even though that law hasn’t been enforced in recent years.

According to private Mega TV channel, turnout was high, in the area of 35% in early afternoon, and queues were forming at polling stations in Athens, the AP reported. Polling stations are to close at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) and the first official results are expected two hours later.

In the referendum about 10 million voters are choosing whether to accept or not the international creditors’s demands for further austerity measures in return for more bailout assistance.

A ‘No’ vote could force Greece to exit the eurozone which would lead to further economic contraction.

As Greece this week became the first developed economy to default on a loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a new bailout package from the “troika” of Greece’s lenders – the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Commission - could probably entail even tougher demands than those on offer last week, according to analysts.

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