But the narrow victory to the right-of-centre, pro-austerity Greek New Democracy party, which will now look to form a government, avoids for the moment at least the prospect of a direct clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the potentially prompt exit of Greece from the euro zone, with all the chaotic consequences that might have entailed.
The narrowness of the victory of New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras - by little more than 2% - over the radical left-wing anti-austerity party Syriza is hardly a convincing majority.
He will rely on forming a coalition with traditional arch rival and socialist party Pasok, with predictions an agreement could be reached as soon as today.
The shared fear of "drachmageddon" and exit from Europe will glue the two parties together as Europe scrambles around them in an attempt to settle the seismic financial rumblings that during the past months have threatened to tear apart the now flimsy fabric of a united Europe.
For their part, the leaders of the G20, on the eve of their meeting in Mexico, will have been watching the results closely. The fate and future of Greece will be at the top of their agenda as the United States and the United Kingdom, in particular, attempt to persuade Germany and Brussels to keep the zone together.
It is widely accepted that should it eventuate, "Grexit" - Greece's exit from the euro zone, almost certainly accompanied by default on its sovereign debt - would have not only a profoundly negative effect on prospects for world economic growth, but also for the very future of the global financial system - again. Greek default could drag the French banks, to which vast debts are owed, to the abyss, the edges of which are beginning to look distinctly crowded. Spain's banks, recently bailed out, are not yet out of danger. Italy is looking precarious; Portugal and Ireland are not far off teetering.
So there will be tough talking among the G20 leaders in Mexico, and not just about what Greece must now do. For Greece is inextricably Europe's problem.
And while it may be true that the southern European country spent its way irresponsibly and deeply into debt, that its tax collections systems have more holes than the proverbial sieve, and that it has in the past paid pensions to its bloated public service employees at unsustainably premature retirement ages, it is also arguable that the single-currency scheme was designed to fail, albeit inadvertently, by its northern European architects.
This is a view promoted by Nobel laureate and economist Paul Krugman in a recent New York Times column: "So Greece, although not without sin, is mainly in trouble thanks to the arrogance of European officials, mostly from richer counties, who convinced themselves that they could make a single currency work without a single government ..."
Much of the discussion in Mexico, and thereafter in Brussels, will concern a potential new European "banking union" whereby the more fragile banks across the Continent are placed under the auspices of the European Central Bank.
Whether this will be enough to stabilise still-jittery markets and help the euro zone ride out uncertainties as Greece forms its new government and accepts Germany's austerity strictures is quite another matter. The world watches and waits with some trepidation.
