How the far-right became Portugal's main opposition and what risks that brings
While many Ukrainians were focused on Romania’s presidential runoff and Poland’s first-round vote on Sunday, 18 May, elections were also held in a very different corner of Europe – Portugal.
Though Portugal’s snap parliamentary elections received far less attention, their potential impact is hardly less significant.
Read more about the results and their implications in the article by Oleh Pavliuk, a European Pravda journalist: Minority government or far-right alliance: what shock Portugal’s elections delivered.
Portugal’s new prime minister, Luís Montenegro, finds himself in a situation not unlike that of his predecessor, Socialist leader (and now European Council President) António Costa. Once again, snap elections were triggered by a corruption scandal involving top officials.
Surprisingly, rather than hurting the Democratic Alliance, Montenegro’s coalition led by the Social Democratic Party, the scandal didn’t damage their standing. Quite the opposite: the center-right bloc increased its seats in parliament by nine, reaching a total of 89.
Corruption was not the dominant theme of the campaign. Unlike in Costa’s case, no formal charges were made.
Instead, voters were far more concerned with persistent issues like immigration and housing affordability.
Portugal remains one of Western Europe’s poorest nations. And voters are clearly fatigued. This was the third snap election in three years, signaling political instability.
This weariness likely contributed to the Socialist Party’s poor showing. Voters largely blamed them for the repeated early elections. The party lost 20 seats, dropping to just 58.
This left room for the far-right Chega party to make history: for the first time in half a century, a radical right-wing force has become the main opposition in Portugal.
Chega is a striking phenomenon in Portuguese politics. No far-right party has ever so rapidly gained voter support in a country still wary of repeating the authoritarian rule of Salazar.
To illustrate: in 2019, Chega had just one MP – its leader André Ventura. Now, it boasts 58 seats, matching the tally of the Socialist Party.
"We didn’t win this election, but we made history. The era of two-party rule in Portugal is over," Ventura declared the day after the vote.
Chega’s success can be attributed to a straightforward strategy: its campaign heavily emphasised issues of immigration and the cost of living, resonating strongly with a disillusioned electorate.
However, the party’s path is not without turbulence. Despite its carefully crafted anti-corruption image, two of Chega’s MPs have recently been embroiled in corruption scandals.
As for Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, he now faces a difficult choice: either form a coalition with the far-right Chega or attempt to govern with a minority, as was the case in the previous parliament.
Neither option is without its challenges.