This is the third time in three years that the Portuguese elect a new parliament; Luis Montenegro was forced to resign in March after losing a motion of trust in the House
For the third time in three years, the Portuguese go to the polls this Sunday (18) to elect the new parliament. The elections were summoned in March after the center-right prime minister, who came to power last year, to be forced to resign after losing a motion of confidence in the House, in which socialist deputies, those of the far-right party arrives and those of the far left voted against him. When he was elected in March last year, Montenegro had no absolute majority and was involved in controversy over potential conflict of interest that directly affected his family.
According to data from a compilation of Radio Renascença research, Luis Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) has 34% of voting intentions, against 26 for the Socialist Party (PS), by Pedro Nuno Santos, a 48 -year -old economist, and possible 19% for arrival, if reaching this percentage of votes, would be a slightly superior result than March 2024. For, it will consolidate its position as the third largest political force in the country.
Former Breedier is the favorite to assume
The former prime, who also appears ahead in the polls, was involved in several scandals, which led to his renunciation. The main one includes a service company, owned by his wife and children, who has contracts with several private companies, including a group subject to state concessions. Since the revelations came to light, the head of government, who had already survived two censorship motions in the past, announced that the family business would remain exclusively in the hands of his children. This crisis “increases political uncertainty at a time when external risks have grown significantly,” says the DBRS Morningstar Financial Classification Agency, which provides for today’s similar results, without an absolute majority in Parliament.
Partial Parliament of Portugal in the 2024 elections │Vincent Lefai, Jean-Michel Cornu, Maria-Cecilia Rezende / AFP
According to the research, conducted by the Portuguese Catholic University, the Democratic Alliance can gain up to 95 of the 230 Chairs of the House, well below 116 for an absolute majority of deputies, which would once again make Montenegro again leading to a minority government, divided among the socialists, who were in the power from 2015 to 2024, and the far right, with whom he refused to rule. Despite the uncertainty, Montenegro can gain support from the Liberal Initiative Party, which has 7% of the votes, which would give him 13 more chairs, according to projections. “What we want is a more important majority,” he said on Thursday (15), adding that he is ready to rule “whatever the breadth of victory.” Socialist candidate Pedro Nuno Santos, a 48-year-old economist, once again accused the prime minister in the end of his term of “provoked the elections not to explain himself” about his consulting firm to a parliamentary commission of inquiry.
How was the election campaign in Portugal?
The election campaign ended on Friday. The arrival of the arrival, André Ventura, a 42-year-old former sports councilor, was forced to abandon the campaign on the final stretch after passing out twice on Tuesday and Thursday in front of the television chambers. The government of Montenegro, on the other hand, reinforced its immigration policy, which under the government of socialists had been one of the most open in Europe. .
Under the leadership of the presidency Minister, António Leitão Amaro, the plan includes the issuance of notifications for these individuals to leave the Portuguese territory. The measure aims to reinforce the country’s immigration policy. The lawsuit was condemned from the left, which accused the current government of trying to attract extreme right voters by announcing the expulsion of 18,000 irregular immigrants during the campaign. Between 2017 and 2024, the number of foreign residents in Portugal quadrupled, reaching 15% of the total population.
