Portugal’s general election on Sunday will be heavily influenced by the austerity program that underwrote the international bailout that the country exited in 2014 and is still visible in its weak economy and high unemployment.
Unlike Spain and Greece, however, where this scenario gave rise to anti-austerity movements, the Portuguese are likely to continue to support the two parties that have governed since 2011 in a coalition which intends to consolidate the budget discipline.
The incumbent prime minister, Pedro Passos Coelho from the Social Democrats (PSD) — which governs in partnership with the conservative Social and Democratic Center-Popular Party (CDS-PP) — cites Greece’s far-left Syriza government as an example of how not to resolve the debt crisis.
“I think Portuguese people see what they don’t want to be now. And definitely they don’t want to be Greece,” said Carlos Coelho, an MEP for the PSD.
António Costa, the leader of the center-left opposition Socialists (PS), has also distanced himself from Syriza — but accuses Passos Coelho of going beyond the demands of Portugal’s international creditors in his zeal for austerity.
Socialist MEP Ana Gomes said Portugal needs change and that “austerity is not a solution for Europe nor for Portugal.”
According to opinion polls, the ruling center-right coalition is set to win but will probably fall short of a parliamentary majority.