Voters head to the polls for early elections that could add to the shift to the right across Europe.
Portugal is holding snap elections as two moderate factions, the centre-left and the centre-right, compete to win power amid the growing influence of the far right.
Polling stations opened at 8am (8pm GMT) on Sunday and closed at 7pm (7pm GMT) in mainland Portugal and an hour later in the Azores. Results are expected around midnight. There are approximately 11 million registered voters to elect her 230 members of the Republic's parliament.
The issues dominating election campaigns in Western Europe's poorest country include a devastating housing crisis, low wages, stagnant health care and corruption, which have taken turns in power since the fall of the dictatorships 50 years ago. Many see it as typical of the mainstream political parties in control.
The far-right Chega party is trying to capitalize on the corruption allegations that haunt the two main parties, the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
The general election comes four months after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa abruptly resigned amid a corruption investigation.
“I hope life will be better than it is now,” Diamantino Vieira, 86, told Reuters as he waited to cast his vote at a polling station in the northern city of Espinho. The right-wing party Democratic Alliance (AD) also plans to vote.
“This is shaping up to be a very close election,” said Al Jazeera's Natasha Butler, reporting from the capital Lisbon.
He said the Socialist Party wanted an eight-year extension in power, while the centre-right wanted an electoral victory. “Both parties have been ravaged by numerous corruption scandals over the years, and that's a concern for many voters,” Butler said.
“Some voters are fed up with the political system and want something different and are looking for alternatives. That's the kind of sentiment that fueled the rise of the far-right party Chega.
The far right promotes anti-immigration policies
Montenegro's PSD and the AD, which compromises with two smaller conservative parties, are leading in most opinion polls but could have difficulty governing without Chega's support.
Montenegro has so far ruled out any agreement with radical populists seeking a government role.
After Costa's resignation, the ruling PS party, led by Pedro Nuno Santos, will renew its old alliance with the Left Bloc and the Communists, which could have ruled from 2015 to 2019 if the leftist coalition won at least 115 seats. They may try to recreate the relationship.
Support for Chega's anti-establishment message, a pledge to stamp out corruption and hostility to what is seen as “excessive” immigration, has nearly doubled since the last election in 2022, according to the survey. It still remains in 3rd place.
On Friday, conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told the Expresso newspaper that he would do everything in his power to prevent Chega from seizing power, drawing criticism because heads of state are obliged to remain neutral. .
Antonio Costa Pinto, a political scientist at the University of Lisbon, said Portugal was “joining the momentum in many European democracies” where centre-right parties are being challenged by far-right parties. .
A potential AD minority government would likely need Chega votes to pass the bill, even with the support of a small centre-right Liberal Initiative, and would likely need Chega votes to pass the bill, with nationalist and Islamophobic Chega could overthrow the government at any time, making it relatively vulnerable.
However, Costa Pinto said: “A PS victory with an absolute right-wing majority in parliament would be the most complex and most unstable scenario.”