Portugal president wins new term

Voters head to the polls in Portugal for presidential elections, as the country faces a mounting debt crisis.

Incumbent President Anibal Cavaco Silva of the centre-right Social Democrats faces a challenge from the Socialists’ Manuel Alegre.

Latest opinion polls suggest Mr Cavaco Silva will be re-elected.

Although the president’s role is largely ceremonial, Mr Cavaco Silva has backed the austerity plan put forward by the Socialist government.

The plan aims to cut Portugal’s deficit and avoid it having to take a bailout like Ireland and Greece.

In his last campaign rally on Friday, Mr Cavaco Silva repeated an appeal for voters to turn out, citing the grave financial crisis Portugal was facing.

The tone of the campaign sharpened in the last few days of campaigning, in part because of fears many voters might abstain.

Two recent polls showed Mr Cavaco Silva was backed by more than half of those who expressed a preference, but as having lost support in recent days.

Earlier this week, the former prime minister said “serious damage” would result if no candidate cleared the 50% hurdle on Sunday, triggering a second round of voting.

The uncertainty would push up interest rates and thus also mortgage payments, he said.

His main rival in the polls, veteran Socialist Manuel Alegre, accused him of blackmailing voters and undermining democracy.

Portugal’s president is a mainly ceremonial figure but has one key power: to dissolve parliament without having to justify the decision.

With the Socialist government lacking an outright majority, there is speculation that a right-of-centre president with a renewed mandate might be likely to use this weapon, says the BBC’s Alison Roberts in Lisbon.

Early on in the campaign Mr Cavaco Silva stressed its importance, but he later said he would be reluctant to wield it.

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