Portugal's main opposition conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) appeared bound for a clear victory in Sunday's parliamentary elections, preliminary results showed, according to dpa. The PSD had 42 per cent against 29 per cent for caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates' Socialists, with 70 per cent of the vote counted. The PSD would have an absolute majority if it joined forces with the conservative-nationalist CDS-PP, which had nearly 11 per cent of the vote. The election will determine which parties will implement a strict, 78-billion-euro (112-billion-dollar) bailout deal that Lisbon negotiated with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to avoid financial collapse. Conservative leader Pedro Passos Coelho, 46, had widely been expected to oust Socrates, 53, who has governed Portugal since 2005. The results reflected "a clear will toward change among the Portuguese," PSD representative Miguel Relvas said. There was concern over the low turnout, which preliminary figures put at 57 per cent. Local protests marked the elections, with residents blocking entrances to polling stations or boycotting the vote over problems such as closure of schools or lack of medical doctors in several areas. In Cabril north-east of Lisbon, protesters released bees at a polling station to protest a delay in repairing a local road. Socrates resigned in March over Parliament's rejection of his fourth austerity package, prompting President Anibal Cavaco Silva to call elections two years ahead of schedule. Portugal's borrowing costs then rose to unsustainable levels, forcing the country to accept an EU-led financial rescue. Passos Coelho has pledged to apply the EU and IMF's bailout conditions and to maintain efforts to trim Portugal's 9.1-per-cent budget deficit. Portugal's economy is expected to contract by 2 per cent in 2011 and in 2012, after growing by 1.4 per cent in 2010. Unemployment has risen to a record 12.5 per cent, fuelling concern that the bailout will increase poverty in what is already Western Europe's poorest country. Trade unions, far-left parties and citizens' movements have announced new protests against public spending cuts in the coming months.
