By Catarina Demony and Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) -Portuguese voters went to the polls on Sunday for a third parliamentary election in as many years, though many are bracing for more uncertainty as the vote is unlikely to deliver a stable government.
Sunday’s ballot was called just one year into the centre-right minority government’s term after Prime Minister Luis Montenegro failed to win parliament’s confidence in March in a vote he himself proposed when the opposition questioned his integrity over the dealings of his family’s consultancy firm.
Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing and most opinion polls have shown voters dismissing the opposition’s criticism.
Polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (0700-1800 GMT), with exit polls expected from 8 p.m. (1900 GMT).
The election, also dominated by issues such as housing and immigration, follows a decade of fragile governments, only one of which has had a parliamentary majority but which still collapsed halfway through its term last year.
Opinion polls show Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) garnering the most votes and probably a few more seats than in the previous election in March 2024, but again no parliamentary majority.
Turnout at midday (1100 GMT) was 25.6%, slightly above the 25.2% registered at the same time in the previous vote, easing concerns about election fatigue keeping voters away.
Outside the polling station where Montenegro voted in the northern city of Espinho, Irene Medeiros, 77, said the “best candidate must win”, but adding that she feared more uncertainty ahead.
Portugal has outperformed most European Union countries on economic growth, and run budget surpluses and reduced its debts under both centre-left and centre-right governments.
But further political instability could delay major projects such as lithium mining in the north, and potentially compromise the long-delayed privatization of the TAP airline.
‘ONLY DOUBT’
Shortly after casting his own ballot, Montenegro told reporters he was confident stability could be achieved.
“There is a search for a stable solution, but that will now depend on (people’s) choices,” he said.
Montenegro’s perennial rival, the centre-left Socialist Party (PS), was polling about 26%, behind the AD on more than 32%, in Radio Renascenca’s “poll of polls” aggregator.
Political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto said the new parliament would likely be similar to the last, and it was impossible to predict how long the government would last, as it depended on factors ranging from the international situation to the AD’s ability to reach deals with other parties.
“The only doubt is whether the AD will form a new minority government … or whether it will form a post-electoral coalition with IL, even if this coalition does not guarantee an absolute majority,” he said, referring to the pro-business Liberal Initiative (IL) party, standing fourth in the polls.
It has some affinities with Montenegro’s AD and many analysts see them as natural partners, but IL’s polling numbers throughout the campaign have been insufficient for a potential alliance between the two to reach a majority of 116 in the 230-seat parliament, which requires at least 42% of the vote.
The far-right Chega party, with which Montenegro refuses any deals, has been polling in third place on about 18%, similar to its result last year, though last-minute health problems for its leader Andre Ventura could influence the outcome.
After undergoing treatment in hospital twice in the past week due to an esophageal spasm, he made a surprise appearance at his party’s final event on Friday.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Sergio Goncalves, Miguel Pereira, Elena Rodriguez and Leonardo Benassatto; Editing by Andrei Khalip, Mark Potter and Helen Popper)
