Portugal will celebrate early parliamentary elections -thirds in just over three years – May 18as the president of the country, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday, has been on Thursday, two days after the minority center-right government lost a matter of parliamentary trust.
The president has adopted the expected decision of Dissolve the Parliament and convene national elections After consulting the main political parties and their State Council. The government has assumed a provisional role until a new parliament is formed.
The prime minister, Luis Montenegro, presented the issue of trust last week after the opposition threatened to establish a parliamentary investigation On the family protection consultant, with the argument that his contracts with private companies have benefited the executive leader.
Montenegro He has denied any conflict of interest or ethical lack. Prosecutors are studying some accusations, but there is no active investigation in progress. His social democratic party has grouped around him and has said that he will lead them in the elections.
The until now Government’s leader has blamed the crisis to the oppositionalthough many political analysts claim that other early elections are Montenegro’s fault and some opinion polls indicate that there may have been the confidence of most voters.
What do surveys say?
Last week’s surveys show a slight advantage of socialists, the main opposition, on the alliance led by Montenegro, but most place them tied around 30%, which would mean few changes compared to last year’s elections. This has been afraid that national elections perpetuate political instability.
The extreme right party Chega remains in third positionbut something below 18% of last year, which analysts attribute to the scandals in which several high positions of the party have been involved.
Despite the political agitation of the last four years, Portugal has registered an economic growth higher than that of most EU countrieswith budget surplus and debt reduction under the governments of center-right and central-left.
Given the frustration of voters for politicians who force them to go to successive elections without guaranteeing the stability of the government, analysts expect this time this time increases abstention.
Last March, a record figure of 6.47 million people They went to the polls, an increase of about 900,000 voters compared to 2022 that benefited the Chega antisystem, according to analysts.
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