Centre-right alliance to form minority govt. in Portugal

Luis Montenegro
| Photo Credit: AFP

A centre-right alliance led by the Social Democratic Party has won Portugal’s general election by a slender margin and is set to form a minority government that could have a difficult term in office as a radical-right populist party that came third in the voting tries to get a hand on the levers of power.

Results published late on Wednesday after votes from abroad were counted to decide the last four lawmakers from the March 10 balloting gave the Democratic Alliance a final tally of 80 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal’s parliament.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as head of state, invited Luis Montenegro, head of the Democratic Alliance and Social Democrat leader, to form a government at a meeting held after midnight.

The center-left Socialist Party placed second with 78 seats and has said it won’t stand in the way of the Democratic Alliance forming a minority government in an upcoming parliamentary vote.

The hard-right Chega party collected 50 seats, up from 12 seats in a 2022 election, in a staggering surge that upends traditional politics in Portugal, where the Social Democrats and Socialists have alternated in power for decades. Chega leader Andre Ventura is demanding that the Social Democrats give his party a say in governing the country, either through granting it seats in the Cabinet or through a parliamentary alliance.

Final official results will be certified on Friday.

Mr. Montenegro, the incoming prime minister, has so far ruled out any deal with the populists, many of whose policies are unpalatable for many Portuguese. But his hand could be forced by political circumstances because his minority government won’t be able to push through legislation on its own.