Portugal vote: Governing coalition ahead, exit polls suggest

Exit polls suggest Portugal's centre-right government is likely to be re-elected, after a poll that tested its austerity policies.

The election was widely seen as a referendum on four years of spending cuts and market reforms.

The governing coalition had vowed to continue the policies, in place since 2011 after it was forced to seek a eurozone bailout.

The Socialists and other left-wing groups criticised the cuts.

Unemployment has been falling for two-and-a-half years, but many regard the recovery as fragile.

The centre-right Social Democratic Party, led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, and its right-wing ally, the People's Party, put up joint lists of candidates in all electoral districts.

Their main challenger, Socialist leader Antonio Costa, had said that only a vote for his party was a "useful vote" against the government.

The exit polls suggest the coalition has a lead of about seven percentage points over the Socialists, which analysts say should be enough to see it returned to power.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionThere have been protests against spending cuts

Portugal economy figures

12%

of the workforce is unemployed

20%

of people live below the poverty line

• 485,000 emigrated from Portugal between 2011 and 2014
• 125% debt to GDP - the second highest rate in the European Union

Statistics Portugal, PORTADA

AP