Portugal’s centre-right Social Democrats (PSD), the main opposition party, defeated the governing Socialists (PS) of Prime Minister José Sócrates in a victory that has buoyed a divided party ahead of a general election scheduled for September. The PSD elected eight of Portugal’s 22 MEPs with 31.7 per cent of the vote, against seven MEPs for the PS with 26.6%, according to official results.

Mr Sócrates accepted the result, in which the PS polled half a million fewer votes than in 2004, as a personal defeat and a vote of protest against government policies for dealing with the impact of global recession. An opinion poll published on Sunday gave the PS a lead in the October election, but indicated it could lose its absolute majority in parliament.