The ouzo has long been stashed away as Greeks vote today in an election shaped by job cuts, slashed pensions, higher taxes and a mountain of debt.

For 30 years Greeks were living like kings and queens and at one point it all vanished

Mandy*, a Maltese woman who has lived in Greece for more than three decades, captures the sombre mood: “It is hard to live in Greece these days.”

Speaking over the phone she asks to remain anonymous, betraying her anxiety over the difficult situation Greeks are in as fellow eurozone countries anxiously wait for the election outcome.

It is the second time in six weeks the Greeks will vote after the previous election failed to give any party enough seats in Parliament to be able to form a government.

Polls in the run-up to today’s vote have put the anti-bailout far-left Syriza party neck and neck with the pro-bailout conservative New Democracy party.

Greece has survived bankruptcy with bailout money from eurozone countries. But the lifeline comes with strict conditions for reform and austerity that have caused social turmoil.

The rise of Syriza has instilled fears that Greece might exit the euro to rid itself of the bailout conditions and in the process spread contagion to other eurozone members. The prospect has sent jitters throughout the global economy.

“Greeks have had enough of austerity. For 30 years they were living like kings and queens and at one point it all vanished,” Mandy says.

She receives €400 less in her monthly pension now and has cut back on the number of times she eats out with her family. However, compared with other Greek families, she admits having a relatively comfortable lifestyle. But every family has somebody who is unemployed, she adds.

She remains hopeful that Greece will not leave the euro to adopt its old currency, the drachma. “Even Syritza are now saying they want to discuss the matter and re-negotiate the bailout deal.”

The biggest problem is that Greeks do not know what the next day will bring, and even if the election produces a conclusive result it is not as if a solution will be found tomorrow morning. “There are no magic solutions,” she says.

It is a sentiment shared by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech. He believes it will be “social suicide” for Greece to exit the euro. “Irrespective of who wins the election and if a government is formed I think they will try and find a solution within the eurozone.”

If it exits the euro to introduce a devalued new currency and default on its debt, Greece would be ostracised by the international markets, Mr Fenech says. “Greece will be a poorer country and the consequences will be devastating.”

But even if a new Greek government sticks with the euro, it is likely to want a re-negotiation of the bailout conditions, something eurozone members have been reluctant to do.

Mr Fenech says Malta will always be open to discussions on some terms of the bailout package but insists the Greeks will still have to undertake painful reforms and make the necessary sacrifices. “Greece has to play its part as well.”

It is very much a game of wait and see, Mr Fenech says.

Not everyone believes the Greek tragedy is central to the crisis hounding the single European currency.

Labour MEP Edward Scicluna, an economist, expects the Greek election to be inconclusive but insists the eurozone has far deeper problems. “Although by no means an insignificant issue, the Greek crisis should not lead us to ignore the real, festering and unattended problem in the eurozone, which is the lack of a proper crisis resolution roadmap,” he says.

The eurozone is in the awkward position of having 17 countries with different fiscal policies sharing a single currency. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has resisted calls for greater integration by the creation of Eurobonds that would mutualise some of the debt incurred by the individual member states.

Such a move, proponents argue, would put markets at ease because they would be dealing with a bloc of 17 rather than individual countries.

Germany insists though that before mutualising debt, errant countries, mostly in the south, must come in line and carry out painful reforms.

This course of action has secured bailout money for Ireland, Portugal and Greece but has pushed people in these countries to the brink.

Never has talk of a Greek exit from the euro been as strong as today and this in itself has created panic.

Prof. Scicluna says it is becoming less and less clear whether the euro leaders want to save the existing eurozone or “aspire to some drastically reduced area”.

“This uncertainty rather than the Greek election and its aftermath is causing economic instability,” he says.

And as the results of the Greek vote start coming in tonight, eurozone leaders will have their eyes firmly fixed on the market reaction.

The euro as we know it may very well take a hammering and no amount of ouzo will do to ease the pain.

*Not her real name