Portugal general election: Socialists win surprise outright majority

The result, boosted by a higher than expected turnout despite the coronavirus pandemic, came as a surprise after the Socialists had lost most of their advantage in recent opinion polls. It means Portugal will have a stable government to oversee the application of EU pandemic recovery funds.

Costa, who has served as prime minister since 2015, had accused his erstwhile geringonça partners of behaving irresponsibly by voting against his budget.

Recent polls had suggested that the PSD were creeping ahead of the Socialists and that the race would be a narrow one.

The far-right Chega emerged as the third-largest parliamentary force, making a big leap from just one seat in the previous legislature to at least 11.

As in many European countries, infections have spiked, although vaccination has kept deaths and hospitalisations lower than in earlier waves.

With Reuters