Surprise landslide sees Portugal's Socialists re-elected with majority
While France's divided left wing is doing badly in opinion polls just months before general elections, Portugal's Socialists convincingly won Sunday's vote, securing a parliamentary majority along the way.
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The results pave the way for a stronger government under Prime Minister Antonio Costa as the country tries to boost its tourism-dependent economy, which has been badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
A stable government is crucial if Portugal is to make the most of a 16.6 billion euro package of European Union recovery funds, due to be delivered by 2026.
Costa had previously been forced to rely on two far-left parties to underpin his minority Socialist governments, which have been in control since 2015.
The Socialists received 41.7 percent of the vote, giving them 117 seats in the 230-seat parliament, up from 108 in the outgoing assembly.
Portugal, all national seats allocated:
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) January 31, 2022
PS-S&D: 117
PSD-EPP: 76
CH-ID: 12
IL-RE: 8
PCP-LEFT: 6
BE-LEFT: 5
PAN-G/EFA: 1
L-G/EFA: 1
Still to be allocated: 4 extraterritorial seats#Legislativas2022 #Portugal pic.twitter.com/Tjy2e9YjLb
The victory of Costa's Partido Socialista is a boost for the European left. Europe has been struggling with a wave of populism in Hungary and Poland, but right wing parties remained divided in spite of their overall success in the 2019 European elections.
The Portuguese results bucked the trend of declining fortunes for Socialist parties in other European nations, including in Greece and France where they have been virtually wiped off the map in recent years.
Currently, socialist parties dominate only eight of of the EU's 27 member states: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Malta, Romania, Spain and Sweden.
'No absolute power'
Despite predictions of a tight race, the main opposition centre-right PSD party landed just 27.8 percent, taking 71 seats.
Four seats still need to be attributed in the coming days with the results of votes cast abroad, but in 2019 the Socialists obtained two.
"An absolute majority doesn't mean absolute power. It doesn't mean to govern alone. It's an increased responsibility," Costa said in his victory speech.
"The conditions have been created to carry out investments and reforms for Portugal to be more prosperous, fairer, more innovative."
Far right gains as well
The vote also handed gains to far-right party Chega, which became the third-biggest contingent with 12 seats, up from just one, mirroring the rise of such formations elsewhere in Europe.
"Everything is going to be different in parliament," Chega leader Andre Ventura, a tough-talking former TV sports commentator, told his supporters.
"From now on there won't be a soft opposition. We will assume the role of being the real opposition to the Socialists...and restore dignity to this country."
Sunday's snap polls were called after two far-left parties that had propped up Costa's minority government sided with right-wing parties to reject his 2022 draft budget in October.
The two far-left parties -- the Left Bloc and the Communist Party -- both lost seats.
The Socialists had a comfortable lead when the election was called, but polls had suggested PSD managed to close the gap in recent days.
During the final stretch of the campaign, Costa repeatedly warned that a PSD-led government would be held "hostage" by the far-right Chega, whose proposals include castrating sex offenders and more support for the police.
PSD leader Rui Rio had vowed not to include Chega in a government but indicated he was willing to head a minority government propped up by support from the far right.
(With newswires)
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