Off the wire
• Top seed Halep pulls out of China Open  • China continues to issue alert for Typhoon Mujigae  • Urgent: Syria's Assad says Russia's anti-terror chances are high  • Malta, Italy halt oil exploration in disputed area  • Feature: Listening to the ordinary, special story of an Eritrean migrant in Italy  • 2nd Ld writethru: Myanmar gov't, ethnic armed groups set Oct. 15 for signing nationwide ceasefire accord  • Gender equality campaign launched in Malta  • Feature: Italian breeder transforms pig farm into Big Brother  • 1st Ld: Myanmar gov't, ethnic armed groups set Oct. 15 for signing nationwide ceasefire accord  • Roundup: Russian airstrikes achieve tangible results in Syria  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Portuguese voting in elections, PM calls for avoiding abstention

Xinhua, October 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Portuguese started to casting their ballots on Sunday in the general elections, the first after the country had a clean exit from an international bailout in May last year.

The polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and the preliminary results are expected around 8 p.m.(1900 GMT).

The 9.6 million eligible voters will choose between the center-right ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho and the main opposition Socialist Party headed by Secratary-General Antonio Costa.

The Portuguese prime minister voted on Sunday in Massama, around 16 km from Lisbon, and called for the Portuguese to avoid abstaining despite the rainy weather.

He told journalists he was "very calm", according to local media, and that he hoped the bad weather would not "impede people from exercising their right to vote."

The leader of the Social Democrat Party also said Sunday was a "day of hope" and that the next four years would be very different to the past four years.

Portugal signed a 78-billion-euro (about 87 billion U.S. dollars) bailout in 2011 with international lenders, and has been implementing tough austerity measures to reach deficit targets.

Over 9.6 million voters are being called to vote on Sunday to select 230 MPs of the national assembly.

Sixteen political forces are running for this year's elections, of which three are coalitions and the remaining are 13 parties.

Election polls have shown that the ruling center-right coalition has a good chance of winning but will not secure a parliamentary majority.

The secretary general of the main opposition Socialist party, who voted in Fontanelas, around 37 km from Lisbon, also called for a "great turnout" on Sunday, pointing out that this year's elections were very important for the country's future. Endit