Portuguese PM’s centre-right party claims election win, falls short of majority

Portugal’s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) claimed victory in Sunday’s early parliamentary election, but again fell short of a full majority, provisional data showed, leaving the centre-left Socialists and far-right Chega neck-and-neck for second spot.

The election, the third in as many years, was called just one year into the minority government’s term after Prime Minister Luis Montenegro failed to win a parliamentary vote of confidence in March when the opposition questioned his integrity over dealings of his family’s consultancy firm.

Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing, and voters have largely dismissed the opposition’s criticism and apparently punished the main opposition Socialists at the polls for being instrumental in bringing down his minority government.

Official electoral data showed the AD receiving more than 34 per cent of the vote.

Far-right Chega, on the other hand, outperformed most opinion polls and was at 23.3 per cent with half of the vote counted, compared with the 18 per cent it obtained in last year’s election. Chega was just ahead of the Socialists at 23 per cent.

Montenegro has refused to make any deals with Chega, meaning his government would have to negotiate piecemeal parliamentary support.