Portugal's center-left Socialist party won a third straight general election on Sunday with an unexpected landslide victory that defied the results of final polls after the Socialist-led minority government fell two months ago.

Despite a recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, results were boosted by a higher than expected turnout, which included over one million voters infected with the virus, allowed to cast their ballots from home.

The Socialists won 41.7 percent of all votes and 117 seats out of the Parliament's total 230, a staggering result that now marks the end of the political roadblock that prevented the country from getting access to EU funding.

Economic recovery from the pandemic will be the priority of the new government led again by Antonio Costa, with two-thirds of the EU funds intended to be used for public projects, with priority given to modernizing the country's infrastructure, and one third to be awarded to private companies.

Portugal's economy has suffered greatly from the pandemic, shrinking to 8.4 percent in 2020 and only starting to recover next year, when it rose by 4.9 percent. The country is still the EU's poorest.

A stable government now means the Socialists won't need to compromise and seek an alliance with other parties. But in his victory speech, Antonio Costa promised to govern for all. 

"An absolute majority doesn't mean absolute power. It doesn't mean to govern alone. It's an increased responsibility and it means to govern with and for all Portuguese," Costa said.

The snap election was called in November after Portugal's parliament rejected Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa's state budget proposal for 2022, including plans on how to spend $18.7 billion of EU aid. 

The two far-left parties responsible for the minority government's fall last year were punished by voters at the Sunday's election, and lost more than half of their seats.

The center-right Social Democrats came second with under 30 percent of the votes, while the far-right Chega saw a shocking increase in support, becoming the third-largest party in parliament.

_{Cover image: AP Photo/Armando Franca}