Democratic alliance won 86 chairs in the Legislative and Center left and right tied with 58 each; still remain to define 4 vacancies
The (democratic alliance), a center-right coalition formed by the PSD (Social Democratic Party) and the (popular social-partner democratic center) and led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro (PSD), obtained 86 chairs at the Assembly of the Republic. The Portuguese went to the polls this Sunday (18.MAI.2025).
The 2nd place remains undefined, but, for now, the center-left, led by Pedro Nuno Santos, and the right-wing, commanded by André Ventura, appear ties with 58 vacancies each.
The result represents a loss of 19 vacancies for the PS and a gain of 10 for arrival. The information is from (General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) of Portugal.
It is still necessary to count the votes of the so -called electoral circles of Europe and outside Europe, representing the Portuguese resident abroad. Together, these 2 circles elect 4 deputies.
This Sunday’s election confirmed the trend of falling the left to the left, already observed in the legislative elections of 2022 and 2024. The Left Block, coordinated by Mariana Mortágua, won a chair, 4 less than in 2024.
On the other hand, Rui Tavares’ Free (Center left) won two chairs and reached 6 seats in the new legislature. The CDU (Unit Democratic Coalition) coalition – union between the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) and the PEV (Ecologist Party “The Greens”) – led by Paulo Raimundo, had 3 chairs, one less than in the previous election.
The PAN (people, animals and nature), also center-left, kept its only representative, Inês Sousa Real.
The right -wing IL (Liberal Initiative), commanded by Rui Rocha, had a slight growth compared to the previous election: it went from 8 to 9 chairs.
Elections in Portugal
Portugal went to the polls for the 3rd time in just over 3 years. The country has held new legislative elections after the minority government of Luís Montenegro, which since February faced a political crisis related to its family company, Spinumviva.
Unlike Brazil, the vote in Portugal is not mandatory, and the electoral participation this year was higher than that recorded in 2024, when 59.84% of voters.
By 2025, the attendance rate rose to 64.38%, contrary to expectations that the repetition of elections since 2022 would remove voters from the polls.
The European country, which reached democracy only in 1974, with the Revolution of Cloves, lives under a semi-representation regime, in which the prime minister is the chief executive and the president, the head of state.
The Portuguese Premier is appointed by the president after consultation with the parties represented in the Assembly, which should be done in the coming days. Traditionally, the head of state indicates the leader of the caption or coalition that obtained a majority in legislative elections.
In the election, 230 deputies are elected for 4 -year terms.
The number of deputies elected by AD does not reach the absolute majority of 116 chairs. Even in coalition with IL, the alliance would not reach that number. Without a formal agreement with the arrival, the democratic alliance is expected to rule in a minority, having to negotiate with the other parties the approval of projects and annual budgets.
Case Spinumviva and the fall of the government
In March, the Assembly of the Republic rejected a motion of confidence presented by the government of Montenegro. At that time, the opposition was already articulating to install a CPI (Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry) to investigate the Prime Minister’s family company.
The motion of confidence is an instrument used in semi -presentialist systems, such as Portugal, to verify that Parliament still supports the permanence of the government. After the rejection, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa dissolved the Assembly and called on early legislative elections.
The problems related to Spinumviva came to public in February, when reports of the Portuguese press pointed out possible conflicts of interest between the consultancy-found by Montenegro in 2021– and the position of Prime Minister, who has been holding since 2024.
The opposition and part of public opinion began to charge explanations about the company’s performance, which has among customers the group – operator of casinos with concession contracts with the government.
Montenegro denied any illegality or unethical conduct. He said he had transferred his participation in Spinumviva to women by assuming the presidency of the PSD in 2022. Pressured for being married under the regime of communion of acquired – equivalent to partial communion of goods in Brazil – transferred the management of the company to other partners, the 2 children.
“I didn’t do any crime, nor had any ethical failures”said the prime minister in the country on March 1.
Immigration: campaign subject
In addition to the Spinumviva case, other topics that dominated the brief campaign were the housing problems – with the increase in the price of real estate and rents, added to the low offer of houses – and especially immigration.
André Ventura, the Leader of Arri, focused his campaign in anti-immigration proposals-a paute that has driven its popularity in the last elections, such as right-wing politicians in countries such as Germany and France.
Leveraged by the strength of the theme, even parties such as PS and PSD adopted harder speeches about immigration compared to previous elections. Last week, Montenegro announced the expulsion of irregular immigrants – that his opponents classified as an electoral, as it is an administrative procedure performed annually.
Until Pedro Nuno Santos, current secretary general of the PS, criticized the regime of “Manifestation of interest”created by the party itself in 2017. The mechanism – a context under the Montenegro government, which considered it a policy of “wide open doors” – allowed foreigners already in Portuguese territory to request regularization, even though they entered tourists. The requirement was to present employment contract or prove contributions to (equivalent to the INSS in Brazil).
According to (agency for integration, migration and asylum), the number of immigrants with regular situation in Portugal exceeded 1.5 million in the 2nd semester of 2024 – 4 times more than in 2017.
In 2023, Portugal ranked 12th among European countries that received the most immigrants. If projections are confirmed, and there is no changes in other countries, it will rise to 7th place.
With the aging of the population and low birth, immigration has become essential for the labor market and the sustainability of Portuguese social security. In 2024, immigrants contributed a record of 3.64 billion euros for social security, responsible for the payment of pensions in the country. Of this value, 36.7% came from Brazilians.
