Roundup: Greeks divided before referendum

On the eve of a historic referendum on the next debt deal with creditors, the Greek electorate is absolutely divided.

Agony for the next day is prevailing clashing with hope, as Greek and foreign officials and analysts warn that regardless of Sunday night's outcome, the Greek people will go through more pain and suffering before Greece returns to stability, exits the newly introduced capital controls and restores growth.

The YES and NO camps are neck and neck according to the latest results of all opinion surveys released by Friday midnight. By an overwhelming majority irrespective of their choice in tomorrow's ballot, seven out of 10 Greeks want to keep Greece in the euro zone and Europe.

In all his televised addresses to the nation, interviews to Greek television channels this week and a speech during the final rally on Syntagma square on Friday evening, the Leftist Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras assured that a NO to the draft deal the lenders proposed after five months of negotiations, does not mean NO to the EU and return to drachma.

He called on voters to opt for a "loud and proud NO," arguing that such a result would strengthen his government's bargaining position and by next Tuesday he would be able to sign a reforms-for-cash agreement with creditors on far better terms for Greece.

"On Sunday we do not only decide to stay in Europe, we decide to stay as equals among equals in Europe," he told the cheering crowd in front of the Greek parliament on Friday evening.

His critics in Greece and abroad are warning that his interpretation and expectations for the next day could be proved wrong and that the high stakes gamble could lead Greece quickly to a formal declaration of bankruptcy and subsequently Grexit.

European officials, such as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncke, Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble have sent clear messages since Friday that from their point of view any deal will take some time to be achieved and that Greece's position will "weaken" in particular should the NO prevails.

After Tsipras' unexpected call last Saturday for a referendum, just a few hours after an EU summit in Brussels, Greece was left with no emergency liquidity assistance for Greek banks from European partners.

In order to prevent the collapse of the banking sector the government as of Monday closed banks for a week and imposed capital controls.

Since Wednesday after failing to cover a loan installment repayment to the International Monetary Fund, Greece is the first advanced economy in decades in arrears status to the Fund.

In addition, the country has lost access to billions of euros as the five-year bailout program that kept it afloat also expired on July 1 and the European partners warn that they could claim the immediate return of 140 billion euro loans from Greece shortly.

Even Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis admitted speaking to media over the past few days that things could get worse before getting better. However he appeared confident that a deal with lenders was almost certain by July 7.

Beyond the financial troubles looming again and the political and social turmoil feared critics of the referendum initiative such as City of Athens Mayor Yorgos Kaminis who addressed the YES camp rally on Friday evening appear most concerned for one new key aspect.

Regardless of Sunday's outcome and developments from Monday a severe damage has already been done, they argued.

Greek society has been polarized, families and friends are divided these days and tensions are running high in unprecedented dangerous levels for first time in decades, dousing hopes for national unity to move forward regardless of the path the country will take. Endit