The fortnight campaigning period for Portugal’s early elections on 30 January is now underway, yet the typical rallies linked to the build-up of the election will be absent this time around due to the pandemic.

The vote arrives two years ahead of schedule following’s parliament’s decision in November to rebuff the Socialist government’s 2022 state budget and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa called a snap election.

The state budget outlines how billions of euros in European Union aid to recovery from the coronavirus crisis will be spent, reports Euronews.

The ballot will elect 230 lawmakers to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, then lawmakers will subsequently vote on who forms a government.

The Socialist Party has ruled the country since 2015 under prime minister António Costa and is set to gain the most votes according to recent opinion polls. However, they may not make an overall majority, and have to find support from the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party, in order to pass legislation in parliament.

The election may also result in a rise in influence from smaller parties, such as the populist Chega! (Enough!), which earned one seat back in 2019.

In addition, in regard to the pandemic, approximately 89% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated, with more than 3.5 million having received a third booster. However, daily cases have hit new highs over the past few weeks, hitting 40,000. On Saturday, the health ministry reported 38,136 new cases.

That said, hospital admissions are far short of previous soaring cases, with an average of 20 fatalities a day recorded in Portugal in recent weeks. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,884,974 reported cases and 19,303 deaths.