The Portuguese are summoned to vote this Sunday, May 18, in Las Cuartas parliamentary elections that are celebrated in the Portuguese country in just five and a half years. The relay at the Bélen Palace has precipitated this time for the same reason that pushed the socialist António Costa to leave office and call elections at the end of 2023, for a judicial case.
The acting prime minister is now investigated by some controversial family businesseswhich is why and threw Lisbon to a new political crisis. However, the conservative leader is once again one of the names on the ballots and, despite the wear and tear that the outcome of his legislature, his party, Democratic alliance, Heads.
The other outstanding chips of the board are Pedro Nuno Santosof the Socialist partyy André Venturathe leader of the ultra -rightist party He arrives. In the probable case of not reaching the absolute majority, Montenegro will be forced to agree with one of them to be able to form a government.
Portugal’s acting prime minister Luís Montenegro still does not know if the judicial case against him will prosper. Even so, he has decided to relaunch his campaign with the intention to stay in charge of the Executive.
The surveys support it, place it in front of the Socialist Party and reflect that the main criticisms to their management are focused on issues such as public health, economy or the fight against corruption, rather than by the family business spinumvivawhich precipitated the fall of his government.
The Acting Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro. / Europa Press
Montenegro, a native of Porto, was forged in the local policy of the people where he grew up, Espinho, and has a Race of more than 25 years in the PSDone of the forces that make up the Democratic Alliance Coalition (AD), together with the Democristian CDS-PP. In front of the ultra -right, he has already warned that It has no intention of agreeing with the chega extremist partyas did after the elections of March 2024.
The candidate of the Socialist Party (PS) of Portugal, Pedro Nuno Santos, known for being from the Radical branch of the party and considered the ‘enfant terrible‘For years, he faces Sunday’s legislative elections with a more conservative profile and with the goal of recovering the land lost in 2024, when the party lost the absolute majority and became an opposition leader.
Pedro Nuno Santos en Un Metin en Lisboa. / Filipe Amorim | AFP
Born in São João da Madeira, he led the game since the end of 2023. In 2015 he carried out the ‘geringonça’ negotiations, the Agreement of leftist matches which made António Costa in Prime Minister despite having been defeated in the elections. After that, he occupied the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs And in the following legislatures he was Minister of Infrastructure and housing.
These elections arrive with a Moderate profile and proposals such as Annual minimum wage increase, reduction of working hours, VAT zero For the shopping basket and expansion of rental aid. Besides, coincides with conservatives in which IRPF must be reduced, offer public guarantees in credits for the purchase of the first house and reduce bureaucracy in justice.
André Ventura, leader of the Portuguese ultra -rightist party ChegaHe is a man of a thousand trades. He graduated as a lawyer, passed through the seminar, was a writer of ‘Best Sellers’ and became known as a sports commentator. In the May 18 elections he faces one of his greater challengesdemonstrate that his extreme right -wing recipe is not a passing episode in Portugal.
André Ventura, the leader of Portuguese Rate. / Miguel Pereira da Silva | EFE
In the 2024 legislative elections, Chega achieved a historical result by obtaining 50 of the 230 seats of Parliament, an unprecedented brand in half a century of Portuguese democracy. On this occasion, Ventura seeks to consolidate and even Expand that successalthough he will not be able to participate in the closure of the campaign after being hospitalized for health problems on Monday.
With a speech xenophobic and provocative against the gypsy community, Ventura has led a personalist campaign and has focused on social networks, where he has dedicated himself to propagating disinformation. His profile retains certain nuances that away from other figures of the International ultra -rightsince it does not propose to repeal the law of abortion and maintains distance with leaders such as Donald Trump is Marine the Pen.
Subscribe to continue reading
