Sawt Falasteen - Portugal heads for presidential vote, fretting over storms and far-right

Ventura is almost certain to be beaten by Socialist candidate Antonio José Seguro in Sunday's election but the far-right score will be watched almost as much as the latest of a series of fierce gales that have swept in off the Atlantic since the start of the year.

Voting has been delayed by a week in some municipalities because of the storms, which have killed at least five people, triggered flooding and caused widespread damage.

A new storm is forecast for Saturday.

But Ventura's call to postpone the whole vote was rejected.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the storms had caused a "devastating crisis" but that the threats to voting could be overcome. The electoral law only allows for a postponement in individual localities.

- Government attacks -

Seguro and Ventura have drastically rewritten their election scripts and appearances to focus on the towns and villages worst hit by floods, where the storm has torn down buildings and pylons.

Ventura, whose Chega (Enough) party was only created in 2019 but is now the biggest single opposition party in parliament, has attacked the response to the storm given by Montenegro's centre-right minority government.

Seguro has cast off his stance as a unifying candidate and also criticised the government.

The 63-year-old former Socialist party leader said he was "shocked" by the state's efforts to get the country back on its feet.

Seguro has the advantage in the divisions caused by the rise of Chega in recent years.

An opinion poll published by the Publico daily on Wednesday gave Seguro 67 percent of voter support and Ventura 33 percent.

Seguro led the first round of the presidential election in January with 31 percent of votes and he is now backed by a host of political figures from the far left to the mainstream right.

Montenegro, whose government relies on the goodwill of the Socialists and Chega to survive, has not publicly backed any candidate, however.

His own party's candidate obtained only 11 percent in the first round and dropped out.

Ventura, 43, took 23 percent of the vote in the first round.

The Portuguese establishment and analysts will be closely watching Ventura's final score on Sunday to see whether his support is "stagnating" or whether he is "conquerering a new public", said Joao Cancela, political science professor at Lisbon's Nova University.

But the weather could have the final word in the debate as the storms and Seguro's predicted win may lower voter turnout.

L.Hussein--SF-PST