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AP PHOTOS: Faces of voters ahead of key Greece elections

This photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 shows laid-off public sector worker Anna Chryssikopoulou, 45, who was employed by the state for 17 years to clean a tax office in Athens, posing with a broom at a protest site outside a Finance Ministry building in central Athens. Dozens of the nearly 600 formerly state-employed cleaning ladies, who were sacked 18 months ago amid austerity cuts, have kept up the protest against their dismissals for more than eight months, often sleeping in the tents pictured behind. She also earns a meagre income cleaning private homes, to support her 15-year-old daughter. She used to support the Socialist PASOK party, which governed Greece from 2009-2011, and intends to vote for the left-wing main opposition Syriza party in the forthcoming Jan. 25 national election. Alexopoulou says she doesn't care whether Greece keeps the euro or returns to the drachma, "because I'm already in a difficult situation." (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
This photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 shows laid-off public sector worker Anna Chryssikopoulou, 45, who was employed by the state for 17 years to clean a tax office in Athens, posing with a broom at a protest site outside a Finance Ministry building in central Athens. Dozens of the nearly 600 formerly state-employed cleaning ladies, who were sacked 18 months ago amid austerity cuts, have kept up the protest against their dismissals for more than eight months, often sleeping in the tents pictured behind. She also earns a meagre income cleaning private homes, to support her 15-year-old daughter. She used to support the Socialist PASOK party, which governed Greece from 2009-2011, and intends to vote for the left-wing main opposition Syriza party in the forthcoming Jan. 25 national election. Alexopoulou says she doesn't care whether Greece keeps the euro or returns to the drachma, "because I'm already in a difficult situation." (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis) This photo taken on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 shows laid-off public sector worker Anna Chryssikopoulou, 45, who was employed by the state for 17 years to clean a tax office in Athens, posing with a broom at a protest site outside a Finance Ministry building in central Athens. Dozens of the nearly 600 formerly state-employed cleaning ladies, who were sacked 18 months ago amid austerity cuts, have kept up the protest against their dismissals for more than eight months, often sleeping in the tents pictured behind. She also earns a meagre income cleaning private homes, to support her 15-year-old daughter. She used to support the Socialist PASOK party, which governed Greece from 2009-2011, and intends to vote for the left-wing main opposition Syriza party in the forthcoming Jan. 25 national election. Alexopoulou says she doesn't care whether Greece keeps the euro or returns to the drachma, "because I'm already in a difficult situation." (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

By Associated Press 1 min read

ATHENS, Greece (AP) – Six years of deep recession, galloping unemployment and repeated income cuts have jolted the average Greek out of a relatively comfortable – albeit often credit-fueled – lifestyle.

For many, Sunday’s national elections are payback time for any party involved in government since the crisis broke in 2009, unleashing waves of unpopular austerity measures demanded by Greece’s international creditors in return for keeping the country afloat.

A modest economic recovery in 2014, coupled with a dip in unemployment, looks unlikely to halt the rise of Syriza, the left-wing main opposition party that enjoys a steady lead in opinion polls.

Even then, voters – from a coffee shop owner to a jobless journalist-turned-dog trainer – photographed by The Associated Press hold little hope that their fortunes will improve greatly in the near future.