Portuguese voted in snap elections today with the opposition Socialists expected to win after a campaign centred on political stability and economic recovery.
Opinion polls point to the Socialists, led by former environment minister Jose Socrates, taking an absolute majority in parliament and ousting Social Democratic Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes, in power only since July.
Any new administration will face the challenge of boosting an economy slowly recovering from a recession and of closing a stubborn budget deficit that breached euro currency zone limits in 2001.
Polls opened this morning under clear skies. The government will be the fourth in three years for the Iberian nation of 10 million, western Europe's poorest.
"Right now everything is going well. There are no problems," said Mr Antonio Henrique, an official at a polling station overshadowed by central Lisbon's hulking prison.
"There aren't very many people so far because it is cold. It's only after noon that we will be able to say the turnout is going to go up."
