A local election candidate shot his rival's husband to death inside a polling station in northern Portugal on Sunday before fleeing the scene, authorities said.

Police launched a manhunt after the Socialist Party candidate, Antonio Cunha, allegedly killed Maximino Clemente (57) the husband of the regional council president, a member of the centre-right PSD party.

The governor of Vila Real region, Alexandro Chaves, said Clemente was killed after an "exchange of fire" half an hour before the polls opened in the town of Fervenca.

A polling station worker told Portugal's Lusa news agency that Cunha walked into the voting station with a gun.

"He did not say anything. He passed in front of people and opened fire on the husband of the general council's president," the worker was quoted as saying.

The polling station in Fervenca was closed and the county vote was postponed for a week, the electoral commission said.

The municipal and county vote took place two weeks after the September 27 general elections that brought the Socialists led by Prime Minister Jose Socrates back to power.

AFP

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