Over 333,000 registered voters in Portugal can vote this Sunday in the legislative election on May 18th. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, this is a record number since mobile voting was held in Portugal.
Mobile voting allows voters to vote in advance at the polling stations that are most convenient for them, as long as they were marking the location they wanted to vote at when they registered.
In the last election, 208,000 voters, including Portuguese President Marcelo Rebello de Souza, voted in advance overseas in 2024. In fact, the president is scheduled to vote again on Sunday.
Approximately 10 million voters living in Portugal and abroad have been registered to vote in these elections, which was raised after the collapse of the central right minority government.
In March, Prime Minister Louis Montenegro had a motion of confidence rejected in Parliament following the incident involving himself and his family, Spinmviva. The case raised questions as to whether civil servants followed conflict of interest rules.
In light of the controversy, President Marcelo Rebello de Sousa dissolved Montenegro-led coalition government.
As the campaign is about to enter its final week, 21 political parties are running in these early elections, including the Union.
According to Euronows polls, the Luís Montenegro Advertising (PSD/CDS) coalition takes the lead at 34.1% of voting intentions. The Socialist Party, led by Pedro Nuno Santos, has 27.1%, and the far-right populist Chega Party will remain as the third most popular party with 15.2%. Liberal initiatives have an 8.3%.
These numbers refer to the Consulmark2 polls conducted April 14-22nd by Nascer do Sol and Euronows.
Additional sources Lusa
