LISBON, Portugal, May 18, (AP): Voters in Portugal returned to the polls on Sunday for a third general election in three years, as the country’s increasingly fragmented political landscape defies efforts to unite behind policies on pressing national issues such as immigration, housing and the cost of living. Hopes that the ballot might end the worst spell of political instability in decades for the European Union country of 10.6 million people could be dashed, however.

Polls suggest the election is poised to deliver yet another minority government, leaving the Portuguese back where they started. "What the polls indicate is that there will not be major differences from the last election results,” says Marina Costa Lobo, head researcher at Lisbon University’s Institute of Social Sciences. That outcome could bring another scramble to build political alliances in Parliament, she said.

For the past 50 years two parties have dominated politics in Portugal, with the center-right Social Democrats and the center-left Socialist Party alternating in power. They are likely to come out on top in this ballot, too. But public frustration with their record in government has fueled the growth of new alternatives in recent years. That has denied the bigger parties enough seats in Parliament to snare a majority needed to ensure they serve a full four-year term. "I really don’t know who to go for,” said 47-year-old Lisbon resident Patricia Fortes.

"I’m fed up with the main parties, but then I feel I don’t know the other parties well enough.” A center-right minority government headed by the Social Democrats in partnership with the smaller Popular Party lost a confidence vote in parliament in March after less than a year in power, as opposition lawmakers teamed up against it. That triggered an early election, which had been due only in 2028. Polls have suggested that the partnership, called Democratic Alliance, again has a small lead over the Socialists but likely not enough to secure 116 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal’s parliament.