Portuguese voters who choose incumbent Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s Portugal Ahead (PAF) party in Sunday’s election are essentially giving the nod of approval to austerity.
Passos Coelho’s social democratic coalition government, in power since 2011, agreed with demands of lenders International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank to cut US$5.2 billion in public spending in order to pay back its US$87.9 billion bailout. It also hiked up taxes.
With around 38 percent support, PAF has a lead of between five and 12 points in opinion polls.
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Passos Coelho’s campaign centered on reminding the Portuguese that he pulled the country out of the depths of the 2010 debt crisis and returned it to functioning growth.
The prime minister presents himself as the stable candidate. “Nobody changes certainty for uncertainty,” he has said. “Without stability there is no trust, without trust, there is no investment, without investment there is no creation of employment.”
Socialist Party leader Antonio Costa on the other hand promises to end austerity and increase family incomes, drawing on the high unemployment rate of 12 percent under the present government.
Polling at 34 percent, Costa is encouraging the 15 percent currently undecided to vote. “You can count on my support, but it is necessary for each one to vote,” he said.
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In the event of a hung parliament (44 percent is required for an absolute majority), Costa has said he would refuse to work with the conservative party, and would only contemplate a grand coalition "if there was an alien invasion" of Portugal.
The Socialist Party was in power during the 2010 debt crisis, though it looks to have been forgiven by the public as it recovers in the polls.
Catarina Martins is not the leader of the left Left Bloc (BE), but the official spokesperson of the six-member committiee. BE has 6.9 percent in opinion polls. The party opposes the current position of the European Union.
Jeronomo de Sousa, heads up Democratic Unity (DCU), an electoral alliance of the Communist and Green parties. The parties have run as a coalition since 1987, though the Communist Party tends to get more seats. They look set to receive 8.9 percent of vote, their best result since 1987.