PORTUGUESE voters are preparing for a new political era as they go to the polls tomorrow to elect a president to replace Dr Mario Soares (72), who is retiring after two terms in office.
The socialist candidate, Mr Jorge Sampaio, is expected to de bleat Mr Anibal Cavaco Silva, the former Social Democrat prime minister, as the country turns its back on the technocratic, authoritarian style of rule which marked the 10 years of Mr Cavaco Silva's government.
Mr Sampaio's position was reinforced during the week by the withdrawal of the only other candidates, both from small left wing parties. Mr Jeronimo de Sousa of the Communist Party, and Mr Alberto Matos, of the Democratic Popular Union, both directed their votes to Mr Sampaio. With only two candidates in the race there will be no second round of voting.
Mr Sampaio, former Lisbon mayor, began the campaign with a strong lead of about 16 per cent in opinion polls but the gap narrowed a week ago when labs? polls permitted under Portuguese law set his lead at less than 4 per cent.
However, the withdrawal of the two minority candidates, who probably amounted to about 3 per cent of the vote between them, and the refusal of the rightist Christian Democrat Popular Party to endorse the Cavaco Silva campaign has enhanced his chances.
"I think Sampaio will have a comfortable win of about 4 or 5 per cent", Dr Manuel Villaverde Cabral, a sociologist, predicted. "Democracy is firmly implanted 22 years alter the fall of the dictatorship, but in the past 10 years Cavaco Silva has tended to concentrate power in the executive.
There has been an impoverishment of democratic institutions. Now people want to reaffirm their active participation in citizenship".
If Mr Sampaio triumphs, as expected, he will crown the socialist victory in parliamentary elections last October when the party won 112 seats in the 230 seat parliament, and formed a minority government, after 10 years in opposition.
In a week of floods and torrential rains, the two candidates have struggled to get their message to the electorate, and Mr Cavaco Silva has fared well in the conservative north, where he has attacked Mr Sampaio's left wing background and raised fears of instability, but few observers believe he can muster the necessary votes to turn the tide.
His worst setback occurred on Tuesday when the Christian Democrat leader, Mr Manuel Monteiro, whose party won 9 per cent of the vote in October, scotched rumours that he would back Mr Cavaco Silva and urged his supporters to remain rigorously neutral, even though some party leaders have participated on an individual basis in the respective campaigns.
"I'm not on the left ... but I'm not an opportunist either," he declared, and said he would register a blank ballot paper. His stand clears the way for the CDS PP to wage credible opposition to the Socialists in parliament.
Mr Sampaio (56), was secretary of state for co operation in one of the first post revolutionary governments in 1975. In 1989, when the Socialists won local elections, he became mayor of Lisbon.
Working with a coalition of Socialists and Communists, he has transformed the face of the capital.