Opposition ahead in Portugal poll

Social Democratic candidate Durao Barroso shakes hands as he campaigns in Lisbon on Friday

LISBON, Portugal -- Portuguese party leaders have been making late appeals to voters as polls point to a narrow win in parliamentary elections by the opposition Social Democrats.

The southern European country's lacklustre economy and the relative failure of one of the European Union's poorest countries to gain ground in the 15-nation bloc has dominated campaigning for Sunday's elections

Polls published on Friday showed the centre-right Social Democrats leading the ruling Socialists, who were expected to lose power after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Guterres resigned in December 2001.

But the surveys suggest the Social Democrats could fall short of an overall majority in parliament.

"I want to end here by saying to you all ... that if next Sunday Portugal can call on me, I am ready, I am going to serve Portugal," Social Democratic leader Jose Manuel Durao Barroso told a final rally in a Lisbon park.

Durao Barroso, who is a former minister, has based his economic programme on business and income tax cuts and on lower government spending as a way to draw investment to Portugal.

Socialist leader Rodriguez campaigns in front of a Portuguese flag during a election campaign rally in Lisbon on Friday

Socialist leader Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, a former public works minister, made a late appeal to undecided voters to turn out in his favour. A poll in Publico newspaper on Friday said up to 29.5 percent of voters had still to decide how to vote or would abstain.

"We want a majority (in parliament) so that we can have political stability, but also to have social stability and economic progress," Ferro Rodrigues said at a rally in a Lisbon assembly hall.

He has called for tax cuts to boost the economy. He has also promised that Portugal will wipe out its budget deficit by 2004 as called for under a euro zone stability pact.

The shortfall was twice the government's target last year. The International Monetary Fund has predicted Portugal's growth this year would be only 0.8 percent, well below the EU average.

And in January the European Commission recommended that Portugal should be formally warned that its budget deficit of 2.2 percent was close to exceeding the EU limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

Campaigning ended by law at midnight (0000 GMT) to give the country's 8.9 million registered voters a day to reflect before casting their ballots on Sunday.

President Jorge Sampaio called for early elections in December, when Guterres resigned after the Social Democrats trounced his Socialists in local elections.

The Social Democrats and Socialists have repeatedly called for voters to shun smaller parties and give them a majority in parliament and thus a stronger hand in passing legislation.