The electoral centers opened this Sunday in Portugal for the legislative elections from which a Government has to emerge to succeed that of the socialist António Costa, who resigned in November due to alleged irregularities. The centers in mainland Portugal and Madeira started the day at 8:00 local time (same time GMT) and will be open until 7:00 p.m. local timewhile those from the Azores archipelago will do so sixty minutes later because they are in a different time zone.

Some 10.8 million Portuguese are called to vote this Sunday in an election in which they appear as favorites to become prime minister the socialist Pedro Nuno Santos and the conservative Luís Montenegro. In these elections, the 230 seats in Parliament are renewed and, despite the fact that the polls give an advantage to the rightthey project a scenario without absolute majoritiesso the pacts will be essential to form a Government and The extreme right could have a key role as the third most voted force.

These elections come a little more than two years after the previous ones, because Costa’s third term, despite being expected to be the most stable because he had an absolute majority, was cut short in half. The prime minister, in power since 2015, resigned on November 7 after being investigated in a case of irregularities in lithium, hydrogen and data center businessesdespite the fact that the Prosecutor’s Office has barely disclosed information and there is no formal accusation.

The surveys have been days fluctuating between Santos Montenegro without any of the blocks, the polls anticipate, being able to obtain enough votes to achieve a majority that stands at 116 seats of the 230 that make up the Assembly of the Republic.

The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned this Saturday, in the middle of a day of reflection for Sunday’s early elections, that there should not be “a wasted vote when it is most needed.”“. “Only your vote decides. Only your vote chooses. “Only your vote is the final word,” the president noted in a message to the nation. Thus he has asked to vote “thinking about your future, the future of your children and your grandchildren.”