The spectre of Neo-Nazism is no longer haunting Greece - it looks like it is here to stay.

The extreme right, anti-immigrant Golden Dawn party, which has Nazi roots, appears headed for a third-place finish in the election.

Its showing comes despite the fact that the party's leader and most of its MPs are behind bars, facing charges of participating in a "criminal organisation" accused of murders, brutal attacks on migrants and others, extortion and arson.

With more than 90 per cent of the voting precincts reporting, Golden Dawn was receiving 6.3 per cent of the vote, narrowly leading the centrist Potami ("River") with 6.04 per cent.

Both parties exceeded the 3 per cent minimum required to gain seats in the 300-member parliament - with each forecast to win 17 seats.

Its share of the vote does not match the 9.39 per cent it received in last June's European Parliament election in which Golden Dawn also finished third. It also trails the 6.92 per cent won in the previous national election, in June 2012.

But considering the exposure of a series of crimes allegedly committed by its members, including the September 2013 murder of a leftist rapper, Pavlos Fyssas, the result obtained yesterday may be even more significant.

Greece elections 2015: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A supporter of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, holds the Greek and French flag during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, cheer during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, speaks during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party, cheer during a rally outside Athens University Headquarters in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, opposition leader and head of radical leftist Syriza party, greets supporters after the initial election results for the Greece general elections in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of Germany's left-wing Die Linke party, hold placards as they show their support to Alexis Tsipras, leader of Syriza left-wing party after his speech to supporters in central Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A woman waves a Greek flag during a speech by the leader of Syriza left-wing party Alexis Tsipras outside Athens University Headquarters Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Anti austerity Syriza party supporters celebrate as leader Alexis Tsipras speaks folllowing victory in the election in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Greece's Conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras waves to his supporters as he arrivess at Zappeio Conference Hall in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of New Democracy wave Greek flags during Antonis Samaras pre-election speech AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A voter casts his ballot in front of a map of Greece at a polling station in a school in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in a school in a suburb of Athens near Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters of the opposition radical leftist Syriza party cheer at exit poll results which indicate that Syriza have a clear lead in in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Anti-austerity Syriza supporters celebrate after the first exit polls, as they gather at the Syriza election kiosk in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Media crew set up in the balconies of a hotel overlooking the Greek Parliament building in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Political party papers are organised at a polling station in a school in Athens Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 The Greek flag flies on top of the Greek parliament in Athens, as the nation goes to the polls. Greece votes in a crucial general election that could bring the anti-austerity Syriza party to power and lead to a re-negotiation of the country's international bailout Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras is welcomed as he arrives for a pre-election campaign speech AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Prime Minister and leader of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samara delivers a pre-election speech Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 The Leader of Pasok (Panhellenic Socialist Movement) Evangelos Venizelos speaks during a parliament meeting in December 2014 AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Alexis Tsipras, head of the Syriza left-wing main opposition party, on the campaign trail AP Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Election posters for the communist party adorn a derelict shop in Athens Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Ballet dancers, performing for a film in Athens, dance in front of the Parliament building ahead of the general election Getty Images Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Workers put up polling station signs at a school in Athens EPA Greece elections 2015: In pictures Greece elections 2015 Supporters cheer as head of the conservative New Democracy party Antonis Samara arrives at the Taekwondo Indoor Stadium in Athens to give a pre-election address Getty Images

This is no longer merely an angry protest vote, a one-off voters' tiff with "corrupt politicians". This is an established vote and a hardened electorate.

"They can no longer plead ignorance. They have dipped their hands in blood," Communist MP Liana Kanelli commented on the result.

Golden Dawn leader Nikos Mihaloliakos and his senior lieutenants were not free to campaign ahead of the election, since they were behind bars.

They were free to stand as candidates because they have not yet gone to trial. Some of them, including Mihaloliakos, may soon be set free when their 18-month maximum pre-trial detention limit is reached.

In a taped statement yesterday, Mihaloliakos celebrated his party's performance.

"We achieved this great victory despite the fact that we could not be guaranteed an equal and so-called democratic election as the regime likes to call it, shunned by all (media), facing mudslinging and slander from all sides ... having to campaign through a payphone," he said.

"We have a fresh mandate ... everyone fought to keep Golden Dawn away and they lost. Golden Dawn won."

In a further twist, if the radical left Syriza party, the winner of the election, fails to achieve an outright majority, it might not be able to form a government and return the mandate, given to it by the President of the Republic.

In that case, the second party takes up the mandate and, if it fails in turn, the third party does. The prospect of a handcuffed Mihaloliakos, escorted by police to meet the Greek president to be asked to try to form a government, sends jitters throughout the political class.