Portuguese Voters Punish Austerity Government

Portuguese voters punished the ruling Social Democrats for painful austerity under an EU/IMF bailout, boosting opposition and independent candidates in municipal elections on Sunday.

Preliminary results and exit poll projections showed Antonio Costa from the main opposition Socialists was reelected mayor of Lisbon by a landslide, winning more than half the votes cast – an improvement of up to 10 percentage points on his 2009 result.

Independent candidate Rui Moreira became mayor of the country’s second-largest city Porto, taking the post from the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which came a distant third.

“Judging by the first data, I think there’s no mistake in saying the PSD has suffered a great defeat. What remains to be seen is whether the Socialists get all that the PSD has lost or divide it with independents,” said Marques Mendes, a former PSD minister and commentator.

via CNBC

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