Legislative elections in Portugal: the country swings to the right with a strong increase in the far right

Le chef de file de l'Alliance démocratique (AD), Luis Montenegro, ce dimanche 10 mars. MAXPPP – TIAGO PETINGA

The Socialist Party conceded defeat during the legislative elections on Sunday March 10 in Portugal, narrowly ahead of the Democratic Alliance (center right), while the far-right Chega group confirmed its growth and could have a role to play in the formation of the government.

10.8 million Portuguese voters were called to the polls this Sunday March 11 to choose between political continuity and alternation.

After counting almost all the ballots, the AD and PS were separated by only 438 votes, virtually tied with 28.7% of the vote, but the center-right party obtained three separate conservative seats in the region of Madeira, bringing its total to at least 77, against 74 for the Socialists.

By conceding defeat to the AD, the leader of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, extinguished possible doubts about the outcome of the vote, despite an increase at the end of the counting.

The far right triples its score

In power since the end of 2015, the PS was beaten by the AD in most polls since socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned last November due to political pressures. an investigation for corruption.

Pedro Nuno Santos said he wanted the PS to lead the opposition, adding that this role could not go to Chega. Ranked third in the vote with 18% of the vote, Chega (“Enough”, in Portuguese) should obtain 46 seats in Parliament, which has 230. This is for the formation of ;far right with a score having almost tripled compared to the previous election in 2022.

If the entire right thus had a parliamentary majority, the leader of the AD, a moderate party, excluded up to now any negotiations with Chega. Luis Montenegro, a 51-year-old lawyer, repeated his position following the results.

"Cleaning" facing corruption

Chega leader Andre Ventura, for his part, told journalists that the vote "clearly showed that the Portuguese want an AD government with Chega& quot;.

The far-right party campaigned on an "anti-establishment" message, promising to "clean up" facing corruption and expressing his hostility towards immigration which he denounces as "excessive".

Perceived by many voters as an endemic problem, corruption was one of the major themes of the campaign in Europe's poorest country, as was corruption. housing crisis, high cost of living and deterioration of health services.