LISBON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Exit polls show that Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa's Socialist Party (PS) has won 36 to 40 percent of the votes and might achieve the majority in Sunday's national election.
The main opposition party Social Democratic Party (PSD) might get between 24.2 and 28.2 percent of the votes, the Bloco de Esquerda (Left Block), between 8.9 and 11.9 percent, and the CDU (the Communist Party and the ecologist Green party alliance), between 4.7 and 7.3 percent, showed the initial results from exit polls.
The election abstention rate, between 47.5 and 51.1 percent, is the highest in the Portuguese recent history, according to local media reports.
The high abstention rate was attributed to the rise in the number of voters: about 10.8 million eligible voters this year, 1.1 million more than four years ago as a result of automatic registration in emigration circles.
