By Andrei Khalip
LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's main ruling Social Democrats took a further hit in an opinion poll of voting intentions before the autumn election, falling far behind the opposition Socialists after the prime minister came under fire for failing to pay taxes on time.
The survey, by Eurosondagem pollsters for Expresso newspaper and SIC television, showed on Friday Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho's party slumping 2.6 percentage points from a previous poll two weeks to 25.2 percent. The Socialists rose 1.6 points to 38.1 percent, still short of a parliamentary majority.
CDS-PP, the smaller partner in the centre-right ruling coalition, edged up 0.4 points to 8.1 percent support, which put the duo nearly 5 points behind the centre-left Socialists.
Two weeks ago the coalition was about 3 points behind, inside the margin of error to make a statistical draw.
Passos Coelho, who imposed huge tax hikes and toughened penalties for back taxes, acknowledged last week media reports that he had failed to pay taxes and social security contributions in time in the past.
But he said he ultimately always paid what he owed, with fines and interest, having run into debts with the state between 1999 and 2007 either due to a lapse of memory or unawareness that certain levies applied to him then.
Several Socialists called for Passos Coelho to resign, but Socialist leader Antonio Costa said this week the party would not demand his resignation and would let the voters decide.
Since coming to power in 2011, with Portugal under an EU/IMF bailout programme, the government has imposed painful austerity that stoked the worst recession since the 1970s. Lisbon exited its bailout last May and the economy is growing again.
The other parties represented in parliament were little changed in the Eurosondagem poll, with the Communist-Greens alliance slipping to 9.6 percent from 10 percent and the Left Bloc keeping its 4.4 percent support.
Portugal has not seen the kind of mass support for a radical anti-bailout party as in Spain or Greece.
Despite anti-austerity talk by the Socialists, analysts expect them to continue budget consolidation if they win. Some analysts have raised the prospect of a centrist coalition between the Socialists and the Social Democrats if the election does not produce a winner with full parliament majority.
Eurosondagem surveyed 1,005 people between March 5 and 10. The margin of error was 3.09 percentage points.
