Portugal’s center-right coalition, the Democratic Alliance (AD) led by the Social Democratic Party, narrowly won the legislative elections over the second-placed center-left Socialist Party, but the conservatives will most likely need to include the third-placed right-wing Chega (Enough) party in order to form a government.
Chega, which managed to win 18 percent of the vote, is set to quadruple the number of seats it holds in parliament, scoring at least 48 in the 230-seat legislature. The result should enable the party to play kingmaker in the new government.
Portuguese Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned last year after a victorious election and another government formation, following a corruption scandal in his administration. He himself was not named as responsible for the scandal, but Costa saw fit to resign, and the president called early elections for Sunday.
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The first exit polls on Sunday evening showed the right-wing coalition winning, with an expected 29.5 percent of the vote. The Socialists could end the election with around 28.7 percent.
The exit poll data also show that the moderate center-right will certainly not have a majority in parliament on its own and will need either a coalition partner or external support to govern.
Polling data released on Sunday night showed the right-wing Chega party could finish third with around 18 percent of the vote, which is a dramatic increase from 2022 when it scored only 7 percent. Fifteen other parties split the remaining votes.
Although in the campaign the Social Democrats excluded a coalition with Chega, the party’s leader André Ventura said on election night that “The Portuguese clearly said they want a two-party government: Chega and the Democratic Alliance.”
Ventura has already said that in order to form a center-right coalition, he is prepared to drop some of his controversial campaign proposals, such as chemical castration for same-sex offenders and the re-introduction of prison sentences for life.
In an exclusive interview with Remix News, the Chega party leader told us that a major factor that will drive the Portuguese to his party is the double threat of mass immigration and a worsening housing crisis.
“The problem is not only Brazil, it’s that we are getting all these people from India, from Pakistan, from Bangladesh, and sometimes also from Brazil coming here, and we have no good conditions for them. So, for example, Portugal is facing a major crisis in housing and construction. And now, with these people arriving, sometimes you go to Lisbon and you see a room or a house with 100 people inside or 50 people inside.
Obviously, you can point out that there are some European countries with much higher immigration problems. That’s obvious. But Portugal is now starting to have this big problem as well. And we should not let what happened to France or to Belgium happen here, and that’s why we are starting to raise the alarm.”
During the interview, he also made a prediction about his party’s future electoral chances, saying: “I think we will get into the government — either leading or in a coalition. I hope we’re leading it, but it’s difficult. We are at 15 (percent), the other party is at 26 (percent). It’s not easy, but we will fight to lead the next Portuguese government. I’ll fight for it, but for sure we will be in the government.”
