The Portuguese Socialist Party won an unexpected victory in the poll, beating its main right-wing competitor, the Social Democratic Party.
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An unexpected political tour de force. Socialist Prime Minister António Costa easily won the legislative elections on Sunday January 30 in Portugal, obtaining an improbable absolute majority at the end of an election also marked by a breakthrough from the far right.
The 60-year-old former mayor of Lisbon came to power in 2015 by sealing a union of the left unprecedented since the Revolution of the eyelets of 1974, when he had not even won those elections. On Sunday, he offered the Socialist Party the second absolute majority in its history. Given in the latest polls elbow-to-elbow with the center-right opposition, the Prime Minister ended up improving his score for 2019. He will no longer depend on his former allies on the radical left, who had provoked these snap elections. by rejecting the draft budget for 2022.
According to partial results covering all constituencies except those abroad, which elect four deputies, the Socialist Party (PS) came out on top with 41.7% of the vote and at least 117 seats out of a total of 230. “An absolute majority is not absolute power, (…) it is an increased responsibilitysaid Antonio Costa in front of his supporters. It is the victory of humility, of confidence and for stability.”
While he hoped to be able to create a surprise, the main opposition party, the Social Democratic Party (PSD, right) of Rui Rio, came second with 29.3% of the vote. The far-right party Chega (Enough) is for its part propelled to the rank of third force in the country, with 7.15% of the vote and 12 elected, while it had only one deputy in the outgoing Parliament.