Among those polled, however, 24% admitted they could still change their minds about which party to vote for on May 18.

On Thursday, the Portuguese weekly Expresso published a poll showing that the ruling center-right coalition Democratic Alliance (AD) would lead with 32% of the vote in Portugal if elections were held now, while the Socialist Party (PS) would come in second with five percentage points less.

RELATED: Power Slowly Return in Spain and Portugal

According to a survey based on 1,002 interviews, the results—after excluding abstentions and distributing undecided voters—reflect a drop of one percentage point for AD compared to a previous study conducted in April, and a two-point drop for the PS.

The far-right party Chega would remain the third-largest force with 19% of voting intentions, while fourth place would go to Liberal Initiative with 5%, according to this study conducted by the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisboa) and the University Institute of Lisbon (Iscte-IUL).

They would be followed by the communist and green alliance CDU (4%), the environmentalist party Livre (3%), the Left Bloc (2%), and the animal rights party PAN (2%).

These results, published two weeks before the snap legislative elections on May 18, show that if this outcome were confirmed, right-wing parties would achieve a majority in Parliament.

However, given the refusal of AD leader and acting Prime Minister, conservative Luis Montenegro, to form a pact with the far-right, it would once again fall to the PS to decide whether to block a center-right government or not. Excluding Chega, the left (including PAN) would then hold a slight majority.

Meanwhile, 53% of those surveyed believe the government should change and that the coalition has done a “poor job” during its year in power, compared to 36% who believe it is still not the right time to replace the Montenegro’s administration. Among those polled, 24% admitted they could still change their minds about which party to vote for on May 18.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

IN THIS ARTICLE