We are now closing this blog, thanks for following today’s developments with us.
Summary of the day
Portugal is preparing for an election on Sunday.
Polls suggest a close-run race for first place between the socialists and the centre-right for first place.
Chega, a far-right party, looks set to finish third.
José Manuel Fernandes, a member of the European parliament from the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), told the Guardian that “the campaign demonstrates the success of the centre-right coalition in gaining the upper hand against the socialists.”
Pedro Magalhães, a political scientist a the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon, said “the election takes place in a difficult context for the incumbent Socialists” and that “many Portuguese are still pondering what to do.”
He also said that “both the PS and AD are trying to make the case for strategic voting near potential supporters of smaller parties” and that “the issue of what happens in the absence of a majority for either the PS or AD — particularly whether a stable government is possible while keeping Chega out of any governing arrangement — dominates a lot of political commentary.”
Agnese Ortolani, principal economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, has said that the outcome is “dependent on a large number of undecided voters” and that “we continue to believe that the most likely scenario is a right-wing coalition with the support of the far-right populist Chega.”
