Lisbone, Portugal (AP) – The president of Portugal summoned the country’s political parties on Monday for consultations, after a general election delivered another minority government as well as an unprecedented demonstration by Populist Party Chega (enough) This additional momentum to The passage from Europe to the far right.
The central-right democratic alliance, led by the Social Democratic Party, captured 89 seats in the National Assembly of 230 places to win the poll on Sunday. The result leaves him without parliamentary majority, however, and vulnerable to the opposition parties which ousted him Two months ago in a vote of confidence After less than a year in power.
The third general election of Portugal in three years has given little hope to end the worst fate of political instability for decades in the country of the European Union of 10.6 million people.
“The Portuguese no longer want early elections,” said Luis Montenegro, the chief of the Democratic Alliance and First Prime Minister, said on Sunday, said on Sunday for the opposition parties to allow it a full four -year mandate.
“We must all be able to talk to each other and put the national interest first,” he said.
The Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has no executive power, consulted parties before inviting the winner of the elections to form a government, in accordance with the Constitution.
Chega upsets the power dynamics of Portugal
The result of Chega has shaken the traditional balance of powers in a trend already observed elsewhere in Europe with parties such as the National Rally of France, the brothers of Italy and the alternative for Germany, who are now in the political political current.
Chega chief Andre Ventura appeared at events with the leaders of these parties in recent years.
Over the past 50 years, the Social Democrats and the Center-Gauche Socialist Party have alternated to power in Portugal.
Chega has collected the same number of seats as the socialists – 58 – and could still claim second place when four remaining seats decided by voters abroad are allocated in the coming days.
“The bipartite system is over,” said Ventura, lawyer and former football expert.
Chega participated in his first election six years ago when he won a seat, and put disaffection with the most moderate traditional parts.
Campected as part of the slogan “Save Portugal”, he describes himself as a nationalist party and focused on reducing immigration and the reprimand of corruption.
In the streets of Lisbon, the 42 -year -old employee of Banque Marta Costa said she felt a “disappointment and sadness” during the projection of Chega.
“We lose the world and do not build something decent for our children,” she said. “I think we are not strengthening enough value for freedom.”
Emilia Gordo, 55, said the voters have expressed a desire for change. “They (Chega) try everything to bring a change, the country feels a need for change.”
The socialists, on the other hand, are without leader after Pedro Nuno Santos said that he was held after the worst party’s result since 1987.
The democratic alliance, which also includes the small popular party, lost a vote In Parliament in March, opposition legislators have joined it. This sparked a first election, which was due in 2028.
The vote of confidence was launched by a political storm around conflicts of potential interests in the commercial relations of the Family lawyer of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. Montenegro has denied any reprehensible act.
Corruption scandals have darkened Portuguese policy in recent years, helping to feed the rise of chega. But the party recently fell against the alleged reprehensible acts of its own legislators. One is suspected of having stolen suitcases at Lisbon airport and the sale of online content, and another would have simulated the signature of a deceased woman. The two resigned.
Immigration and housing concern voters
Chega owes a large part of his success to his requests for a stricter immigration policy that has resonated with the voters.
Portugal has had a sharp increase in immigration. In 2018, there were less than half a million legal immigrants in the country, according to government statistics. At the beginning of this year, there were more than 1.5 million, many of which Brazilian and Asian working in tourism and agriculture.
Thousands of others do not have the appropriate documents in Portugal. The government of the Democratic Alliance announced two weeks before the elections that it was expel about 18,000 foreigners live in the country without authorization. Although such a step was a routine, the timing attracted accusations that he was trying to capture Chega votes.
A housing crisis also triggered a debate. The prices and rents of arrow housing for 10 years, partly due to an influx of strangers in white collar which increased the prices.
Housing prices jumped 9% last year, said National Statistics Institute, a government body. The rents in and around the capital Lisbon, where around 1.5 million people live, had the highest increase in 30 years last year, climbing more than 7%, said the Institute.
The problem is aggravated by Portugal being one of the poorest countries in Western Europe.
The average monthly salary of last year was around 1,200 euros ($ 1,340) before the tax, according to the Statistics Agency. The government’s minimum wage this year is 870 euros ($ 974) per month before tax.
