"The PSD had the opportunity to inform the President of the Republic that we would prefer to see the elections held on the 27th, but that we had no reason to oppose the circumstance of their being held on the 4th of October," Marco António Costa, the spokesman for the Social Democratic Party (PSD).


Cost was speaking said after an audience with the president, Aníbal Cavaco Silva, who had called in the parties with seats in parliament with a view to scheduling the elections. According to the PSD spokesman, the argument used was that earlier elections would give more time to prepare the state budget, which normally must be submitted to parliament by mid-October.


The opposition Socialist Party (PS) also described 27 September as "the preferential date" for the elections, while saying that 4 October was "acceptable". According to spokesman Ascenso Simões, the fact that in Portugal the formation of a new government, the opening of parliament, and the elaboration and approval of the state budget all take a considerable amount of time meant that earlier elections would be better.


"We would like this whole process to be concluded before ... the Christmas holidays, so that the calendar year could start with a new budget in place," he said.


The PSD's junior partner in the governing coalition, the People's Party, also said it favoured 27 September, while two leftist opposition parties called for the elections to take place in October. A third said either of the two dates were fine.


Under Portugal's Constitution, the elections must take place between 4 September and 4 October.