Portugal's centre-left Socialist Party (PS) has extended its lead as the favourite to win the most votes in a snap general election on March 10, although it remains far from a parliamentary majority, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
The Secretary General of Socialist Party, Pedro Nuno Santos, Reuters/Pedro Nunes
Portugal's centre-left Socialist Party (PS) has extended its lead as the favourite to win the most votes in a snap general election on March 10, although it remains far from a parliamentary majority, an opinion poll showed on Tuesday.
There was also a strong jump in voting intentions for the third-placed far-right party Chega (Enough) that could be key to the wider right wing forming a government, according to the survey by Intercampus for newspapers Correio da Manha and Jornal de Negocios.
Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned on Nov. 7 over an investigation into alleged illegalities in his government's handling of several large investment projects. Costa has denied wrongdoing and remains head of a caretaker government.
The PS, now led by 46-year-old former infrastructure minister Pedro Nuno Santos, commanded 26.4% support in the Intercampus poll, up from 25.4% a month ago.
The Democratic Alliance, which encompasses the centre-right main opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), the conservative CDS-PP and the monarchist party, trailed behind with 20.8%, although in December the PSD alone polled at 22.5%.
Chega, which is already the third-largest force in parliament and has recently moderated its populist, anti-establishment rhetoric, jumped to 16.6% support from 11.6%. The right-wing Liberal Initiative polled at 5.4%.
Left Bloc and the Communists had 7.4% and 3.9%, respectively, with the overall left garnering 37.7%, behind the overall right with 42.8%.
PSD leader Luis Montenegro has ruled out any form of reliance on Chega to govern, and many analysts say a post-election quagmire would ensue without such support, potentially leading to a repeat ballot.
Intercampus surveyed 637 people on Jan. 16-20, with a margin of error of around 4%.
Reporting by Patrícia Vicente Rua
Thailand's foreign minister will meet his Myanmar counterpart on Wednesday in a bid to chart a path towards peace in a civil war-ravaged Myanmar with the help of its Southeast Asian neighbours after an election that entrenched military power.
Anne-Claire Legendre, diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron for North Africa and the Middle East since late 2023, was elected on Tuesday as the new president of the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA, Arab World Institute).
Charismatic U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister raised in the segregated South who became a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.