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Exit polls give centre-right social democrats sweeping victory over José Sócrates’s socialists Portugal has moved sharply to the right after a general election saw socialist prime minister José Sócrates ousted by opposition leader Pedro Passos Coelho as the country voted under the shadow of a €78bn euro bailout package. Television exit polls gave Passos Coelho’s centre-right social democrats a sweeping victory with a lead of some 12 percentage points over the socialists. Sócrates admitted defeat and said he would stand down as party leader. “The Socialist party lost these elections,” he said. The vote saw yet another left-wing government ejected from power in Europe because of the economic crisis, with the socialists paying heavily for the sharp downturn that forced the country to seek a financial rescue package. Only five left-wing-led governments now remain among the 27 member states – in Spain, Greece, Austria, Slovenia and Cyprus. “We now have a very difficult period for the next two or three years,” Passos Coelho said before the votes had been counted. “But I’m sure that we will make the necessary change and Portugal will achieve new prosperity with economic growth.” “In the markets, we will only have confidence if we are committed to the memorandum of understanding reached with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund,” he added, referring to the bailout package. Passos Coelho was expected to form a government with the right-wing People’s party (CDS-PP). Exit polls showed that between them they would have a parliamentary majority. “Both parties are strongly committed to the implementation of the bail out conditions and would easily negotiate a common economic programme, “Antonio Barroso, of political risk consultancy Eurasia, said prior to the vote. Voting took place against a background of economic misery, with unemployment rising to over 12% – the worst in three decades – and spending cuts in education, health and pensions seen as inevitable. Portugal’s economy is expected to contract by 2% both this year and next as spending cuts bite and tax hikes are also used to bring down the budget deficit. The election follows months of political squabbling over how to cut the debt burden. Opposition parties refused to accept the outgoing Sócrates government’s last austerity plan, prompting him to resign and a snap election to be called. Portugal has taken advantage of cheap eurozone loan rates to build up debt over the past decade, despite a meagre average annual growth rate of below 1%. Soaring yields on Portuguese government bonds over the past 18 months finally forced it to ask for a bailout in April. Both the socialists and Passos Coelho’s social democrats accepted the bailout conditions imposed by what the Portuguese media call “the troika” of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank. “The government that will emerge from this election will have the responsibility to honour the commitments taken (under the bailout plan), which are very demanding,” President Anibíal Cavaco Silva had warned. As with fellow eurozone members Greece and Ireland, which have also been given bailouts, Portugal cannot devalue its currency to lower export prices and make its goods more competitive on the world market. Turnout was below the 2009 level of 60%, exit polls indicated. Cavaco Silva had warned voters that they could not complain about what politicians did “at a time of sacrifice and serious doubts abotu our future” if they did not taken part in the elections. European Commission president José Manuel Durao Barroso declared this the most important election in his home country for four decades. Portugal Europe Giles Tremlett guardian.co.uk