While not one to debate post-electoral scenario, António Costa, leader of the Socialist Party (PS) which is tipped to come in as runners-up, has already said he will not betray voters by helping a minority PSD-CDS pushing through important legislation, starting with the state budget for 2016.
The PaF alliance has in the past week seen its share of the vote hover between 38 and 39 percent, while the PS has consistently fallen short by around six percent.
In the 2011 elections, the PSD, which ran without the CDS, its current junior coalition, received just under 39 percent of the vote.
Under Portugal’s proportional representation system, this equated to 108 seats, eight short of a majority. The 11.7 percent received by the CDS was enough to be awarded 24 seats in Parliament, and sufficient for a majority when joined with those occupied by the PSD.
However, four years later, the two parties have seen their joint share of the projected vote drop from just over 50 percent to a rounded off figure of 40 percent. While proportional representation can still perform some tricks, it is unlikely that this will be enough to obtain a majority in Parliament.
The Socialists, with 33 percent of the vote could bring in around 85 seats. But the Communists are expected to receive more than 11 percent of the vote (which equated to 24 seats for the CDS last time round), while the Left Bloc have been handed a share of eight percent, which was worth 16 seats in 2011.
A Socialist coalition with the leftist parties would amount to as many as 125 seats in Parliament, a clear majority, but it is unclear if there are any agreements to this end.
Socialist leader António Costa has repeatedly been questioned over whether he would extend a hand of cooperation to the Communist Party and/or the Left Bloc, but has repeatedly given the same answer: “I won’t need to. We are going to win with a majority.”
Polls - not an exact science as the UK elections illustrated this year – show that Costa is struggling to win, let alone obtain a majority. The Socialist leader continues to avoid giving some insight as to what the day after elections might look like should he win, but without a majority.
And should he decide to form a government with the Eurosceptic and anti-NATO Communist Party, this could send a few shudders down the spine of financial markets.
The PSD-CDS coalition, even if they did win on Sunday as polls suggest, are set for an uphill battle to govern.
With António Costa dispelling any support for a centre-right coalition budget, the government will be forced to work on a provisional one.
The matter is further complicated by the presidential elections which take place next January, and which will see the end of Cavaco Silva’s maximum two terms in office.
While a president holds extensive powers, such as calling early elections, the incumbent will be unable to do so as he approaches the final three months in office.
Calculations indicate that a second round of general elections can only be held in June 2016, once a new president has taken office and called an unscheduled ballot.
At a gathering earlier which included two prominent Socialist MPs, The Portugal News was told “there is no way the PS will work with a minority centre-right government while Passos Coelho is in charge.”
Whether or not the centre-right and centre-left will be able to cooperate for the country’s sake, it appears a tough ask.
Another feature of the most recent opinion polls has been illustrative of how undecided voters and those who intend abstaining are making the larger gains, which in itself could have a considerable influence on Sunday’s ballot.
Then there is the small case of football this Sunday, with Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting all playing on election day.
Polling stations will be opening at 8am and closing at 6pm, but it could just be that football takes priority.
Recent figures show that the most watched 20 programmes in Portugal in 2014 were all football matches, with Benfica regularly attracting more than two million viewers - about a third of those eligible to cast a vote this Sunday.
If football is not enough to discourage the growing number of disillusioned voters from queuing outside polling stations, rain is forecast to fall over much of the country this coming Sunday.
For the latest on the elections, visit www.theportugalnews.com for regular updates over the weekend along with the results which should be out early Monday morning.