AFP, LISBONIncumbent Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s Socialist Party won a general election marked by low turnout on Sunday after presiding over a period of solid economic growth following years of austerity. The Socialist Party (PS) took 36.65 percent of the vote, followed by the center-right Social Democrats (PSD) with 27.9 percent, near-total results from the Portuguese Ministry of Internal Administration showed. The election bucks the trend of declining center-left fortunes and the rise of far-right populist forces seen elsewhere in Europe. Turnout was 54.5 percent, the lowest level for a general election since Portugal returned to democracy after a decades-long right-wing dictatorship was toppled in 1974. The election gave Costa another potential governing partner as the upstart People-Animals-Nature party, which has backed his budgets in the past, won four seats, up from just one.

Source: Taipei Times October 07, 2019 15:56 UTC