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Greece Prepares For Crucial Referendum (PHOTOS)

PHOTOS: Greeks Prepare For Crucial Referendum
By 

Editorial Fellow, The Huffington Post

Greece was on edge on Thursday, days ahead of a controversial referendum on the country's economic future.

Scheduled for Sunday, the referendum will ask Greeks to vote "yes" or "no" to a bailout plan proposed by the country's creditors -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Even before polls opened, Greece's government and EU ministers were scrambling to persuade citizens to vote in polar opposite ways. "If the outcome is positive, then there is naturally, on the European side, the willingness to help Greece out of the gutter," said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the president of the Eurogroup's finance ministers. "If the result is negative, then the future will be a lot more complicated."

Greece's government, on the other hand, is asking voters to reject the creditors' demands for new spending cuts in exchange for bailout funds. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis declared on Thursday that he would resign should the country vote for the referendum.

Watch Greece prepare for Sunday's crucial vote:

AFP/Getty Images/Sakis Mitrolidis
Electoral workers prepare ballot boxes in a warehouse in Thessaloniki, Greece, on July 2, 2015, ahead of Sunday's economic referendum.
AFP/Getty Images/Angelos Tzortzinis
Municipal workers carry ballot boxes into a warehouse in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015, in preparation for the upcoming referendum.
AFP/Getty Images/Angelos Tzortzinis
Ballot boxes for the upcoming referendum are stored in a warehouse in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015.
AFP/Getty Images/Angelos Tzortzinis
Municipal workers carry ballot boxes into a warehouse in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015, in preparation for the upcoming referendum.
AFP/Getty Images/Sakis Mitrolidis
Electoral workers prepare ballot boxes in a warehouse in Thessaloniki, Greece, on July 2, 2015, ahead of the upcoming referendum.
AFP/Getty Images/Angelos Tzortzinis
Municipal workers store booths in a warehouse in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015, in preparation for the upcoming referendum.
AFP/Getty Images/Louisa Gouliamaki
Youths chant slogans supporting the "no" vote for the upcoming referendum in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015.
AP Photo/Petros Karadjias
A man passes out a leaflet reading in Greek "Vote NO in the referendum, Down with the EU" in Athens, Greece, on July 2, 2015

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