Portugal Prime Minister and Social Democratic party leader Pedro Passos Coelho speaks to the media after voting yesterday in Massama on the outskirts of Lisbon.
AFP/Lisbon
Portuguese voters took part yesterday in municipal elections seen as a first test of the austerity policies of the two-year-old centre-right coalition government.
“Whether they are from the right or the left, the Portuguese hope the government will be punished in one way or another” for fully applying the austerity policies prescribed by international creditors, said political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto.
In exchange for a 78bn euro ($105bn) rescue package in May 2011, Portugal’s government has imposed tax hikes and wage and pension cuts in a bid to balance the budget, aggravating a downturn that has sent unemployment to a record 17.7% at the beginning of this year.
Despite growing discontent, the Portuguese government has largely pushed forward with measures to repair public finances as it seeks further disbursements of bailout funding.
Claudia Madruga, a young resident of Lisbon, said she cast a blank vote, convinced that nothing would change. “It is always the same people that stand, the same politics,” she said.
Economics teacher Alda Camara said she voted for the Socialist opposition. “(Prime Minister Pedro) Passos Coelho is a mere puppet of Angela Merkel. They (the government) are making savings affecting children,” she said. “There are classes in Portugal now without a teacher.”
The vote comes as auditors from the “troika” of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank are in Lisbon to review Portugal’s progress and decide whether to release a 5.5bn euro loan instalment.
Some 9.5mn people were eligible to elect representatives for 308 city halls, with polling stations closing at 7pm (1800 GMT).
Opinion polls put the Socialists in the lead with 38% followed by Passos Coelho’s conservative Social Democrat party on 26.5%.
Polls forecast a big victory for the incumbent socialist mayor of Lisbon, Antonio Costa.
Independent candidates are running in several races, including in Portugal’s second city Porto, which is currently in the hands of the conservative Social Democrats.
The latest polls give independent candidate Rui Moreira the lead over conservative Luis Filipe Menezes.
Passos Coelho himself has insisted that “the municipal election results will have no effect on national policy.”
But he conceded yesterday that “even if this is not a national election, the results of the local vote must be considered at a national level.”
The opposition Socialists hope to capitalise on the discontent in Portuguese households, with party leader Antonio Jose Seguro urging voters to “make the right choice “.
Officials say results may be delayed because the election is the first since some local councils were merged in an effort to cut costs. Final results may not be available until today.