Greece's two main pro-austerity parties suffered major losses in elections Sunday, exit polls showed, throwing into doubt the eurozone country's commitment to meeting the tough terms of its two bailouts.

The conservative New Democracy led by Antonis Samaras was the largest party with 17-20 percent of the vote, insufficient to give it an absolute majority and down from 33.5 percent at the last election in 2009, the exit polls showed.

The left-wing Pasok saw its score slump to 14-17 percent from 43.9 percent. The party was even leapfrogged into second place by the leftist Syriza party, which scored 15.5-18.5 percent, up from 4.6 percent three years ago.

A neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, was also set to enter parliament for the first time in nearly 40 years, notching up 6-8 percent. The communist KKE scored 7.5-9.5 percent, compared to 7.5 percent in 2009, the exit polls showed.

Both Pasok and ND have said they want the "troika" of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank to cut Greece more slack in their two bailout deals worth worth 240 billion euros ($314.0 billion).

But with voters angry at the austerity cuts demanded in response, many of the smaller parties, including Syriza, want to tear up the agreements, while the communist KKE party want to leave the eurozone.

The result therefore will make it tough for Samaras, once he is tasked to do so by the president, to form a government able to keep its austerity promises and implement more cuts demanded by the country's creditors.

His other options include a repeat of the current uneasy Pasok-ND alliance or fresh elections. The final results are not expected much before before 2000 GMT, and experts have warned they could differ considerably from the exit polls.

"After two years of barbarism, democracy is coming home," said Alexis Tsipras, the head of the leftist Syriza party said earlier Sunday after casting his vote. "The people will send a loud and clear message to all of Europe."