The campaign for the starts marked by the announcement of the government of the acting prime minister, the conservative, that about 18,000 irregular immigrants will receive a notification to leave the country soon.
The Minister of Portuguese, António Leitão Amaro, explained on Saturday that a first batch of 4,500 people will receive the notification of the Agency for Integration, Migrations and Asylum (Aima) in the next few days, an announcement criticized by the rest of the games for having made it known hours before the start of the campaign.
About 10.8 million Portuguese are called to attend the polls on May 18, the third legislative in about three years in the country, which in the coming months will also convene municipal and presidential elections.
Both Montenegro, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (PSD, center -right), as the socialist, who are the two favorites for the elections, chose the north of the country to officially start the electoral campaign this Sunday.
Montenegro, who leads the ruler coalition of center -right democratic alliance (AD), began with a walk in the streets of the city of Bragança, where, in statements to journalists, he defended the immigration policy of his executive and asked for the vote to continue his program.
Santos opted for the town of Ponte de Lima, in Viana do Castelo, where he assured that Montenegro is wanting to get political revenue from the expulsion of immigrants when it is a process that already existed, and criticized the “incompetence” of the government after a year in power.
The call to the vote has been common to achieve a majority by these political forces, at a time when the surveys foresee the victory of the AD in the May 18 elections, although without giving it an absolute majority.
The polls
The panorama to govern acquires difficulty if one takes into account that Montenegro has several times that it will not agree with the extreme right, current third political force in Parliament.
A survey by the Pythagorean consultant published last night by the half -day welding, the TSF station and the TVI/CNN television shows that the conservative coalition would obtain 34.5 % of the intention to vote, while the socialists would receive 27.7 % and the ultra -rightist Chega would have 15.7 %.
70 % of the 810 respondents believe that AD will be the winning coalition on May 18, according to the same study.
Another survey of the Catholic University published on May 29 by the RTP channel, the antenna 1story and the public media also gave the victory to the AD with 32 %, while the PS received 26 %. Chega remained once again as a third force in intention to vote with 19 %.
The government resigned in March after losing a vote of confidence in Parliament, after the existence of the Spinumviva company, founded by Montenegro and in the hands of its family, which received payments from other companies, such as the largest hotel and casinos group in the country.
This week, criticism increased after the Portuguese press published that the acting prime minister now revealed eight new clients of the company to the transparency entity as part of its registration of interests, which, according to the media, would allow him not to know until the end of the electoral campaign.
The socialist candidate for the Government of Portugal, Pedro Nuno Santos, in a campaign act in Ponte de Lima, on May 4, 2025.
Tense debate
Migration management and the housing and health crisis were precisely the protagonist issues, last night, in the debate among the eight greatest political forces, a whole campaign start. This joint meeting between the leaders of the parties with parliamentary representation, televised by the state RTP channel and that is held after several rounds of discussions to two voices in recent weeks, covered other key points, such as political crisis and economic perspectives.
The debate was marked by the accusations launched against the executive of the acting prime minister, the conservative Montenegro, and against the general secretary of the Socialist Party, Santos, by the legacy that left his formation during the eight years he was in power.
There were no possible pacts between parties, at a time when several surveys show that Montenegro, president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD, center -right), which in turn leads the conservative coalition of democratic alliance, would be the most voted -without achieving the absolute majority -, closely followed by the PS. The panorama to govern acquires difficulty if one takes into account that Montenegro has several times that it will not agree with the extreme right, current third political force in Parliament.
The debate began with the signaling of Montenegro towards the rest of the parties, when he assured that if the country goes to elections it is because the rest of the formations did not give their support in the motion of confidence and not by the controversy generated by its family business Spinumviva.
After the statements of this Sunday, the rest of the parties recalled that if they voted against the motion, it was because the prime minister did not give enough explanations, and criticized their results provided after a year in the government, which he has kept in a minority.
The immigration management, which entered the debate after the announcement on Saturday of the Executive that 4,500 irregular immigrants will receive a notification to leave the country in the next few days, was the issue that most raised the tone of the participants.
Santos accused the prime minister of having taken advantage of an administrative process that already existed to obtain political revenue and attract voters from the ultra -rightist Chega, while Montenegro accused Santos of the “situation of chaos” that left his party and criticized the parliamentary blocks that promoted the PS and Chega in the last year.
With regard to the housing crisis, Mariana Mortágua, from Bloco de Esquerda, criticized the PSD and PS – who defends that there is more built – for asking for a “patience pact” to people who need a house under the premise that controlling prices requires time: “People are being deceived,” he said.
On public health, which faces lack of means and professionals for years, the socialist candidate said that the National Health Service is “deterioration” for the management of Montenegro. In about two hours of debate, Montenegro said the Portuguese economy is “at a good time.”
He said in reference to recently published official data, which show that GDP fell 0.5 % in volume in the first 2025 quarter compared to the last three months of 2024, but that in interannual terms it grew 1.6 %; and advocated investing more in companies. On the other hand, Santos said that “this is another area in which Luís Montenegro failed” and unpilated his electoral program, a criticism similar to that of Chega.
Other issues taken by the parties were the need to combat domestic violence, as proposed by the Animalist Pan Party; Upload the minimum wage, which is currently at 870 euros; or demand the high the “immediate” fire and the recognition of Palestine, this proposal by the communist Paulo Raimundo.
About 10.8 million Portuguese are called to attend the polls on May 18, the third legislative in about three years in the country, which in the coming months will also convene municipal and presidential elections.
