Portuguese voters choose between centre-left and centre-right
Election issues include housing crisis, low pay, sagging healthcare and corruption in mainstream parties
10 March 2024 - 16:00
byDavid Latona and Catarina Demony
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Far-right political party Chega leader Andre Ventura looks on during the general election in Lisbon, Portugal, March 10, 2024. Picture: VIOLETA SANTOS MOURA
Lisbon/Espinho — Portuguese voters voted on Sunday on whether to switch to a centre-right government or keep the centre-left in power. Neither option appears certain to secure a clear majority.
The far-right Chega party’s clout has been strengthening, and it could play a role in post-election talks.
Issues dominating the campaign in Western Europe’s poorest country include a crippling housing crisis, low wages and sagging healthcare as well as corruption seen by many as endemic to the mainstream parties.
Polling stations were open from 8am GMT to 7pm in mainland Portugal and an hour later on the Azores archipelago. Results were expected at about midnight.
The early election, four months after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s sudden resignation amid a graft investigation, again pits against each other the two centrist parties: the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD). They have alternated in power since the end of the fascist dictatorship five decades ago.
“I hope life gets better than what it is now,” said 86-year-old Diamantino Vieira as he waited to vote at a polling station in the northern city of Espinho, where Luis Montenegro, at the helm of the Democratic Alliance (AD) of right-leaning parties, was due to cast his ballot.
The AD, which compromises Montenegro’s PSD and two smaller conservative parties, leads in most opinion polls but it could struggle to govern without Chega's supporting votes. Montenegro has so far ruled out any deals with the radical populists, who want a government role.
The ruling PS, led by Pedro Nuno Santos since Costa's resignation, could attempt a replay of their old alliances with the Left Bloc and the Communists that enabled them to govern from 2015 to 2019, if the combined left gets more than 115 seats in the 230-seat parliament.
Surveys suggest support for Chega’s anti-establishment message, its vows to sweep away corruption and hostility to what it sees as “excessive” immigration, has roughly doubled since the last election in 2022, though it remains in third place.
On Friday, conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told Expresso newspaper he would do everything he could to stop Chega taking power, drawing criticism as the head of state is mandated to remain neutral.
Political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto of Lisbon University said Portugal “has entered the dynamic of many European democracies”, in which the centre-right is challenged by having a radical party to its right consolidated in third place.
An AD minority government, even supported by the smaller centre-right Liberal Initiative, would probably need votes from Chega to pass legislation, making it relatively fragile as Chega could topple it at any point.
However, “a PS victory with an absolute right-wing majority in parliament would be the most complex, most unstable scenario”, said Costa Pinto.
More than 10-million citizens are eligible to vote.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Portuguese voters choose between centre-left and centre-right
Election issues include housing crisis, low pay, sagging healthcare and corruption in mainstream parties
Lisbon/Espinho — Portuguese voters voted on Sunday on whether to switch to a centre-right government or keep the centre-left in power. Neither option appears certain to secure a clear majority.
The far-right Chega party’s clout has been strengthening, and it could play a role in post-election talks.
Issues dominating the campaign in Western Europe’s poorest country include a crippling housing crisis, low wages and sagging healthcare as well as corruption seen by many as endemic to the mainstream parties.
Polling stations were open from 8am GMT to 7pm in mainland Portugal and an hour later on the Azores archipelago. Results were expected at about midnight.
The early election, four months after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s sudden resignation amid a graft investigation, again pits against each other the two centrist parties: the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD). They have alternated in power since the end of the fascist dictatorship five decades ago.
“I hope life gets better than what it is now,” said 86-year-old Diamantino Vieira as he waited to vote at a polling station in the northern city of Espinho, where Luis Montenegro, at the helm of the Democratic Alliance (AD) of right-leaning parties, was due to cast his ballot.
The AD, which compromises Montenegro’s PSD and two smaller conservative parties, leads in most opinion polls but it could struggle to govern without Chega's supporting votes. Montenegro has so far ruled out any deals with the radical populists, who want a government role.
The ruling PS, led by Pedro Nuno Santos since Costa's resignation, could attempt a replay of their old alliances with the Left Bloc and the Communists that enabled them to govern from 2015 to 2019, if the combined left gets more than 115 seats in the 230-seat parliament.
Surveys suggest support for Chega’s anti-establishment message, its vows to sweep away corruption and hostility to what it sees as “excessive” immigration, has roughly doubled since the last election in 2022, though it remains in third place.
On Friday, conservative President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told Expresso newspaper he would do everything he could to stop Chega taking power, drawing criticism as the head of state is mandated to remain neutral.
Political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto of Lisbon University said Portugal “has entered the dynamic of many European democracies”, in which the centre-right is challenged by having a radical party to its right consolidated in third place.
An AD minority government, even supported by the smaller centre-right Liberal Initiative, would probably need votes from Chega to pass legislation, making it relatively fragile as Chega could topple it at any point.
However, “a PS victory with an absolute right-wing majority in parliament would be the most complex, most unstable scenario”, said Costa Pinto.
More than 10-million citizens are eligible to vote.
Reuters
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