Defeat will prove to be severe blow for the Socialist party, led by Antonio Costa, which has campaigned to reverse austerity measures and revive an economy suffering from a record “brain drain” and has the highest debt levels in the eurozone.
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Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho’s “Portugal Ahead” coalition – joining his centre-right Social Democratic Party with the conservative Popular Party – has made a surprising comeback in opinion polls, with most putting it ahead despite the harsh cuts it has enacted.
Portugal is all set for Sunday’s general elections.
But Greece’s capitulation to its creditors earlier this year looks to have proven fatal for Mr Costa and Portugal’s smaller Leftist parties. Protest votes traditionally go to the Communist Party, which is expected to achieve its usual support of around 10 percent of votes, and the newer Left Bloc, forecast to poll around 5 percent.
It left the bailout scheme in May 2014 but only after implementing stringent austerity measures in return for funding.
The centre-right governing coalition has vowed to continue austerity policies in place since 2011, after it was forced to seek a eurozone bailout.
The jobless rate has since fallen to 12 percent from a peak of 17.5 percent at the beginning of 2013.
The subsequent center-right government’s spending cuts and tax hikes helped propel Portugal into a three-year recession.
Athens eventual submission was a “clear warning against anti-austerity adventurism” in Europe, says Federico Santi of Eurasia group.
Communists from the PCP party, which want Portugal to exit the euro, would have to take part to make it work.
In December 2011, Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho suggested that the best way for Portuguese youth to find a job was to emigrate to Portuguese-speaking countries like Brazil or Angola.
With a few 20 percent of voters saying they are undecided, there is still room for a surprise outcome.
He accused Passos Coelho of going even further than bailout requirements and applying his own brand of “excessive austerity”.
Affable and approachable, Costa was elected Socialist leader a year ago after his predecessor failed to dent the government’s popularity.
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According to opinion polls, the coalition led by Coelho has the support of about 38 percent of voters, compared to 32 percent for the opposition Socialist Party, which indicates that the coalition could win between 99 and 114 seats in the 230-member parliament, just short of the 116 needed for an absolute majority.
