(Adnkronos) – The center-right Democratic Alliance (AD), in government in Portugal, has won the country’s third snap general election in three years, but once again fell short of a majority, while the Socialists underperformed and found themselves vying for second place with the far-right Chega party, which achieved a record 22% of the vote.
At midnight yesterday, with 99% of the votes counted, the AD, led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, could count on 32.1% of the votes and 86 seats in the 230-seat Portuguese legislative assembly, well below the 116 needed for a majority. The Socialist Party (PS) obtained 23.4% of the votes against 22.6% for Chega, with 58 seats each. Votes from abroad remain to be counted in the coming days, which could still bring Chega to second place: it would be the first time in almost 40 years that the Socialists have not placed among the top two parties.
In the last elections, 14 months ago, the AD won 80 seats, the PS 78 and Chega 50. Despite not having obtained a majority, Montenegro told a crowd of supporters in the early hours of today that he had received a clear and reinforced mandate from the Portuguese to govern. “The people want this government and this prime minister,” he said. Montenegro added that the Socialist Party apparently had no intention of negotiating any broad majority agreement and that he was keeping his promise not to make deals with Chega. “Let us work,” he concluded. (continued)
Chega leader André Ventura spoke of an impressive result for his party at the polls – well above the 18% of the vote it won last time – which, he said, ended 50 years of conservative and socialist governments and “killed bipartisanship in Portugal”. “We didn’t win this election, but we made history,” he told a packed hall of jubilant supporters, saying he was certain his party would still come second.
Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said he would resign early Monday morning and would not run when the party holds an internal vote to elect a replacement.
