Portugal votes with centre-right poised to oust the Socialists

Voters in Portugal went to the polls on Sunday in an early election that could see the country join a shift to the right across Europe after eight years of Socialist rule.

Final opinion polls published on Friday show the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) narrowly ahead of the Socialist Party (PS) but short of an outright majority in parliament, which could make the far-right party Chega a kingmaker for forming a governing coalition.

But analysts warned the results of the election, Portugal’s second in two years, remained wide open given the large number of undecided voters. Voting stations in the nation of around 10 million people opened at 8:00am local time with exit poll projections expected at 8:00pm.

“These elections represent a possible change, there would be little point in doing otherwise,” Pedro Resende, a 56-year-old security officer, told AFP at a polling station in Telheiras, a modern upper middle class neighbourhood in northern Lisbon.

The AD has campaigned on promises to boost economic growth by cutting taxes, and to improve the country’s public services.

“We really must turn the page,” the party’s leader, 51-year-old lawyer Luis Montenegro told a packed final rally at Lisbon’s bullring on Friday night.

He has ruled out any postelection agreement with Chega, but other top AD officials have been more ambiguous.

Analysts say a deal with the anti-establishment party may prove the only way for the AD to govern.

Chega’s leader Andre Ventura, a former trainee priest who went on to become a television football commentator, has said his party is “as legitimate as the others”.