What exactly are they voting on.
In last ten years, the Greek government has been bailed out by the EU and the IMF numerous times. The last time was a few years ago when they were loaned 340,000,000,000 Euros. They can’t pay it back. The austerity measures that were supposed to have been put in place on the government (i.e. cut pension payments and reduce government payrolls) never took place. Now they are out of money again, unable to even pay the interest due on those loans.
Their current Prime Minister ran on the platform of telling the bankers in Europe that they were not going to abide by the loan agreement and that if the bankers ever hoped to see their money again, then new loans would have to be arranged.
The bankers, though, have had enough. They are not willing to loan more money or give concessions unless enforceable measures to control the Greek government’s debts are put in place.
The Greek Prime Minister punted to his people asking them to hold a referendum tomorrow on whether they wanted to agree to the new measures or to refuse.
In the No vote wins, then the Greeks refuse the measures that their creditors are demanding and it is 100% certain that Greece will default on it’s loan obligations.
It is the PM’s effort to save his own butt. If the people vote yes, he can go back to the EU, hat in hand, thus violating his pledge that got him elected. If they vote no, he can lay the hardships at the feet of the people for their choice. Of course, the deadline for payments is long past, and the referendum means nothing, unless the EU wants to turn the clock back to, say, June 30.