Portugal vote in election after four years of austerity

Portugal is due to vote in a parliamentary election that is widely seen as a referendum on four years of austerity.

The centre-right governing coalition has vowed to continue austerity policies in place since 2011, after it was forced to seek a eurozone bailout. The Socialists and other left-wing groups have criticised the cuts and promised to ease painful reforms.

However, neither side is likely to win an absolute majority in the 230-seat parliament following Sunday's election.

Polling stations will open at 8am, with the first results expected about 12 hours later.

Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's "Portugal Ahead" coalition, which links his centre-right Social Democratic Party with the conservative Popular Party, has made a surprising comeback in opinion polls, with most putting it ahead despite overseeing harsh cuts.

Coelho, a 51-year-old economist, is campaigning on his record of having navigated the country safely through the debt crisis and to a return to growth last year after three years of recession.

When he came to power in June 2011 Portugal was on the verge of defaulting on its mountain of debt. His socialist predecessor, Jose Socrates, had just asked for a $88bn bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, making it the third eurozone country after Ireland and Greece to receive a financial rescue package.

Portugal exited the bailout scheme in May 2014 but only after the government imposed harsh austerity measures and the biggest tax hikes in living memory.

The jobless rate has since fallen to 12% from a peak of 17.5% at the beginning of 2013. But the recovery has yet to be felt on the streets. One in five Portuguese continue to live below the poverty line with an income of less than 5,000 euros per year.

The coalition, in power since 2011, has 37.5% support, against 32.5% for the main opposition socialists led by Antonio Costa, a popular former mayor of Lisbon, according to the average of the latest surveys.