The center-right is likely to win but realistically, the voters have lost because they will be stuck with harsh bailout conditions for quite a few years.
Final opinion polls gave the Social Democrats (PSD) around 37 per cent of the vote against 31 per cent for Prime Minister Jose Socrates' Socialists, in power since 2005.
This would leave the PSD short of an absolute majority in the 230-seat parliament, but the party could govern in coalition with the third-placed conservative CDS-PP, as it has done in the past.
Portugal's three main parties have agreed to the conditions attached to a bailout deal struck in May with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union.
These include deep cuts in public spending on health, education, pensions and jobless benefits at a time when the unemployment rate hit a record 12.6 per cent in April - one of the highest levels in the eurozone.
