Portugal’s president has invited Luis Montenegro, leader of the Democratic Alliance (AD), to try to form a minority government after the long-awaited overseas vote tally confirmed a narrow electoral victory for the centre-right coalition.
Montenegro was summoned to the presidential palace in Lisbon shortly after midnight on Thursday, where President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa formally appointed him as prime minister of the government after more than a week of consultations with party leaders.
“AD won the election… [so] “The President…has decided to nominate Luis Montenegro as Prime Minister,” the presidential palace said in a statement.
Overall, AD won 80 seats in the 230-seat parliament, which is expected to be reinstated next week, followed by the Socialist Party with 78 seats and Chega, a far-right party founded just five years ago, with 50 seats.
After his first meeting with Rebelo de Sousa on Wednesday afternoon, Montenegro’s president said on behalf of his party that he “expressed his desire to take over the leadership of the government and be appointed prime minister.”
Montenegro has pledged not to form a coalition or even an informal alliance with Chega, the only path to a majority government, and agree with the Socialist Party (PS) on the outline of a legislative program supported by the center-left party. We must try to do so. in parliament.
On Tuesday, Rebelo de Sousa met with the new leader of the Socialist Party, Pedro Nuno Santos, and vowed that the party would not only be a “stable, strong and solid” opposition party, but also a “responsible opposition party” that is “responsive to agreements”. He also promised that it would become “. .
He said the PS would not support proposals with which it disagreed, but would also not oppose “where there is a common view”, such as the need to increase pay for public sector workers such as teachers, health professionals and the police. .
Chega, who has emerged as a potential kingmaker after campaigning on a platform calling for stricter immigration controls and tougher anti-corruption measures, is demanding a government role in return for support for an AD-led government. .
Populist party leader Andre Ventura said after Monday’s meeting with Rebelo de Sousa that if AD continues to refuse to form a coalition with Chega, voters will inevitably be left with a centre-right view of the political instability that will ensue. He warned that political parties would be blamed.
“We remain committed to reaching an agreement that ensures the stability of our country,” Ventura said. “In the absence of government agreement, the AD will be responsible for the resulting instability.”
António Costa Pinto, a political scientist at the University of Lisbon, told Agence France-Presse that a minority government would “not necessarily” be destabilizing because “none of the actors has an interest in causing a crisis.”
Another political scientist, Jose Adelino Martes, He told the newspaper Diario de Noticias. “Politically there is no crisis. 70% of the AD program is 70% of the PS program. There is great stability in all important goals.”
But Montenegro is already under intense pressure from a small but determined group of Social Democratic MPs who insist that a stable majority government aligned with Chega is the only responsible course.
Without it, Montenegro will have to try to pass legislation on a case-by-case basis, and the government could face an existential test as early as this fall as it draws up its 2025 budget. If the budget is rejected, new elections could be held.
