José Alves (Capital Madrid) | The alliance of parties formed around the Democratic Alliance (AD), José Montenegro’s party, has won the elections held in Portugal this Sunday. He will not, however, be able to form a government unless he accepts the offer of the former ruling Chega party to support him, which does not seem likely if he fulfils his election promise. It will be the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who will have to decide the political and constitutional dispute, which will be extended. What is clear is that the Socialist Party, which had enjoyed an absolute majority until its removal owing to a corruption scandal, has been defeated, but not by as large a margin as expected.
Led by Luís Montenegro, AD has become the leading Portuguese political force. With 98.8% of the vote counted, the AD won 29.55% of the vote, followed by the Socialist Party (PS) with 28.68%, the ultra-right Chega! (18.08%), the Liberal Initiative (5.05%), the Left Bloc (4.44%), the United Democratic Coalition (3.3%), Livre (3.2%) and the animalist PAN party (1.92%).
By seats, and with the aforementioned percentage, the parties with the most deputies are the AD (76), PS (74) and Chega (46). IL would get seven seats, BE another five, Livre four, CDU three and PAN one. Abstention stands at 33.79%, the lowest figure recorded since 2005.
It is a difficult scenario, where all options remain open. It will be up to the President of the Republic and his gentle touch to decide whether to call new elections or not.
