- Title: PORTUGAL: Polls close after snap election held under bailout cloud
- Date: 6th June 2011
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (JUNE 05, 2011) (REUTERS) POLLING STATION BEING CLOSED HAND LOCKING DOOR DOOR CLOSING BALLOT BOX BEING OPENED BALLOTS BEING PLACED ON TABLE CLOSE OF BALLOTS VARIOUS OF BALLOTS BEING ORGANISED BEFORE COUNTING
- Embargoed: 21st June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Portugal, Portugal
- Country: Portugal
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA7K7TWHZEK609AXSYJYLZGC0N3
- Story Text: Polls closed in Portugal at 1800 local (1700GMT) on Sunday (June 5) after a snap parliamentary election held under the shadow of an EU/IMF bailout.
Although first exit polls results were not being unveiled until 1900 local when voting will close in the Portuguese islands, Portuguese media reports were indicating a victory for the Social Democrat Party, led by Pedro Passos Coelho.
The Portuguese people went to the polls on Sunday to elect a new government which will lead the nation through a period of deep austerity and recession after it received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union and IMF.
The election will end a period of political uncertainty that started with the collapse of the Socialist government in March and led Lisbon to become the third country in the euro zone to seek a bailout after Greece and Ireland.
The Portuguese, who face unemployment at its highest level in three decades, are expected to reject caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates in the snap ballot and turn to opposition centre-right Social Democrat Pedro Passos Coelho.
The latest opinion polls gave Passos Coelho around 37 percent support compared with 31 percent for Socrates, which will most likely mean that the Social Democrat will need to team up with the smaller rightist CDS party to form a majority in parliament. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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