Ahead of Sunday’s snap election, Portugal’s ruling Socialists have lost more of their lead to the Social Democrats (PSD), according to two opinion polls released on Friday.

The election is very much wide open, and according to analysts, will likely exacerbate political volatility. It may also lead to a short-lived government considering there’s no working majority as it stands.

Support for Prime Minister’s centre-left party dropped to 35%, as per a survey carried out by ISCTE-ICS for TV channel SIC and newspaper Expresso, from December’s figure of 38%, Reuters reports, whilst the PSD’s support increased from 31% to 33%.

The gap between both parties is less than the poll’s 3.1% margin of error, indicating they’re in a technical draw. Another poll undertaken earlier in the week revealed the PSD in front by a small margin.

However, they are both a way away from a parliamentary majority, which equates to between 42% and 45% of the vote according to the proportional representation system.

Furthermore, a survey by Catolica for the RTP television channel, Antena 1 radio and Publico newspaper, revealed PS having 36% support, down from last week’s 37%. The PSD held steady at 33%.

Back in October, former allies of Antonio Costa - the Communists and Left Bloc – moved to side with right-wing parties to rebuff the government’s budget bill, which sparked the snap election.

According to the ISCTE-ICS poll, the far-right party Chega, the pro-business Liberal Initiative and the Communist-Greens alliance CDU each had 6% support, with any one able to become the third-largest parliamentary force, the Reuters report adds. The Left Bloc had 5%, People-Animals-Nature (PAN) party had 2% whilst the CDS-PP and eco-Socialist Livre each had 1%.

Whereas in the Catolica poll, Liberal Initiative, Chega and Left Bloc would each gain 6%, and CDU 5%. The CDS-PP, Livre and PAN each had 2%.