According to affair around head of government: right pressure overshadow conservative victory in Portugal

A historical pressure overshadows the victory of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s conservatives in the early parliamentary election in Portugal. According to far advanced counting, the right-wing populists from Chega fought a head-to-head race for second place with the Socialist Party (PS), which had only ruled the southwestern European EU country with absolute majority a little more than a year ago.

“We killed the two-party system that has been ruling for 50 years,” cheered Chega boss André Ventura in front of TV cameras. The cries of joy of hundreds of followers were difficult to understand the statements of the 42 -year -old legal professor. The party, which had celebrated an increase from seven (2022) to 18 percent a year ago, now even climbed to around 23 percent, as the electoral authority in Lisbon announced.

There is also a fire wall in Portugal

After counting around 98 percent of all electoral districts, Montenegros Bündnis Aliança Democrática (AD/Democratic Allianz/AD) came to a good 33 percent of the vote. That is four points more than in the last vote of March last year and around ten percentage points more than PS and Chega each combine.

But the absolute majority of 116 of 230 parliamentary seats again missed the AD. Montenegro had recently still excluded a collaboration with the right -wing populists. The fire wall is as stable on the Tejo River as in Germany. Unlike in Germany, however, a coalition between the two traditional parties near the middle is completely excluded. An unstable minority government is therefore again awaiting the popular holiday country.

Third election of elections have been elected since 2022

It was already the third election since 2022. This new vote had become necessary because Montenegro had significantly lost a vote of no confidence in March. The 52 -year -old lawyer had been put into trouble by the opposition due to opaque business of a family business. Everything now indicates that the affair has not harmed him.

Many important projects are on ice

Since the coordination bankruptcy of Montenegro in the Lisbonner “AssembleBleia da República”, Portugal has only had a managing government with limited powers. Several important projects are therefore on hold until a new government is formed. Among them is the privatization of the airline TAP, in which Lufthansa is interested.

The AD victory promises continuity. However, the talks on the formation of the new government – as in 2024 – are likely to take some time. In order for Montenegro by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to be appointed candidate on the position of head of government again, several parties, including the socialists, must assure that they will not vote against Montenegro when voting in parliament. As the only real coalition partner, only the liberal Iniciativa Liberal is possible for the AD, which – but – but by far – was in fourth place.

What exactly triggered the political crisis?

The allegations against Montenegro are about the Spinumviva company, which was founded by the trained lawyer in 2021. The consulting company is said to have benefited from the position of the prime minister to sign contracts with private companies. The opposition spoke of conflicts of interest.

Even if the voter apparently didn’t care about the affair and the focus was on topics such as immigration and crime in the election campaign: this affair for Montenegro is probably far from being over. It can be assumed that the left -wing opposition will continue to insist on a parliamentary investigation commission. After an anonymous advertisement, the public prosecutor also deals with the case.