Today’s the day that Portugal’s electorate decides a. whether to vote and b. which party to vote for.
The question is whether Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, who oversaw the bailout programme that averted the country's bankruptcy while imposing stiff austerity measures, will retain his position or hand over the reins of power to António Costa, the Socialist party leader.
The current centre-right 'Portugal à Frente' coalition of Passos Coelho’s Social Democratic Party and the Democratic and Social Centre Party led by Paulo Portas entered the election slightly ahead in the polls.
Both of the main parties promise to keep the country’s troubled finances in order but neither party leader is set to gain a majority, meaning new deals will have to be struck or a minority government will be in power.
With poor weather affecting voters in the north of the country, by midday 20.65% of those entitled to vote had done so, some 1.9 million voters.
National media company RTP said that its pundits forecast a 35-40% abstention rate, SIC reckoned 36.9% to 41.3% and TVI between 39% and 43%.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote, Portugal’s President Cavaco Silva declined to speculate on the results.
As for those abstaining, Cavaco Silva said that a ‘no’ vote does not solve any problems, adding that "everyone must participate in choosing who they want for the future of the country" and then continued to moan that there were there top-class football games on today which might reduce the voting figures.
The National Elections Commission has told those in charge of voting stations that people should have an extra hour if they already are in a queue.
More than 9.6 million voters are able to cast their vote to decide the country’s immediate future, among them the disgraced former head of the Espírito Santo empire Ricardo Salgado who has been under house arrest since July 24th.
The former banker voted on Sunday morning at the polling station in Cascais.
Escorted by a police team, Ricardo Salgado told the press that he was "fulfilling his Portuguese national duty" and that he "continues to believe that the country is moving forward."
The press also were waiting for former PM José Sócrates to emerge from house arrest in Lisbon as he made his way to cast his vote without a police escort. He is indicted for the crimes of qualified tax fraud, money laundering and accepting bribes.
Sócrates said to reporters, "Today is the time when the country takes important decisions and you have to respect that time."
The former PM’s lawyer João Araújo said there would be no police escort as this would represent "a public humiliation with losses for the Socialist Party."
The count now is on to see which party will form the next government even though some polling stations will go the extra hour.
