Exit polls in Greece's general election suggest the centre-right party of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is set to defeat its socialist rival, BBC reported.

The exit polls indicate Karamanlis' New Democracy party will win about 42% of the vote, against about 38% for the Pasok party led by George Papandreou.

If confirmed, the results would give New Democracy an absolute majority in the 300-seat parliament.

The vote was overshadowed by forest fires that killed dozens in August.

Karamanlis had been expected to triumph in the poll, after calling elections six months before the end of his term of office. But his support fell when many Greeks felt the government was slow to react to the fires.

The Papandreou and Karamanlis families have dominated the Greek political scene for most of the past 50 years.

However smaller parties have been gaining support in the run-up to the election.

The far-right Laos party is expected to cross the 3% threshold needed to gain seats in parliament for the first time.

About 9.8 million people out of a population of 11.4 million were eligible to vote.

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