Voting under way in Portugal general elections amid populist surge
Al Jazeera
Voters head for the polls in an early election that could see country join a shift to the right across Europe.
Voting is under way in Portugal’s snap parliamentary elections as the two moderate blocs, the centre left and the centre right, are vying to win power amid the growing clout of the far right.
Polling stations opened on Sunday at 8am (08:00 GMT) and close at 7pm (19:00 GMT) in mainland Portugal and an hour later on the Azores archipelago. Results are expected around midnight. There are nearly 11 million registered voters to elect the 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic.
The issues dominating the campaign in Western Europe’s poorest country include a crippling housing crisis, low wages, sagging healthcare and corruption, seen by many as endemic to the mainstream parties, which have alternated power since the end of a dictatorship five decades ago.
The far-right Chega party is looking to capitalise on corruption allegations that have dogged the two main parties – the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
The general elections are being held four months after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s sudden resignation amid a corruption investigation.
