APD | Portugal holds general elections on Sunday

By APD writer Aditya Nugraha

**LISBON, Oct. 6 (APD) ** - Portugal held on Sunday a general election with the center-left Socialist Party is predicted to get a most votes, paving its way to govern the nation for another four years.

The ballot is open to around 10.8 million eligible voters, including many Portuguese who are living abroad.

Under the government led by socialist prime minister, Antonio Costa, Portugal seen strong economic recovery to 2.1 percent last year from only 0.2 percent in 2014. The unemployment rate was also dropped to 6 percent last year, half from it was in 2014.

The current government also managed to trim down budget deficit to zero from the previous routinely overspent budget.

Portugal’s main opposition party, the social democrats, was still tainted by its economic policy failures and three-year recession that ended in 2014.

The ruling Socialist Party was predicted to fall short of a majority in the parliament, making it has to coalesce with other factions in the parliament. The party coalesced with the Portuguese Communist Party and the radical Left Bloc, to pass legislation in their last term.

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the nation will face major challenges in the next four years, among others from its top European market, Britain, which was scheduled to divorce from the European Union (EU).

Addressing the general election on Saturday evening, Rebelo de Sousa said that besides the Brexit, the nation requires high turnout to face other challenges, including climate change, droughts that ravage southern half of the country, and an aging population that threatens the financing of the welfare system.

At current fertility rates, Portugal population will decline from 10.3 million this year to 6.6 million in 2100, according to EU estimation.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)