The election result of Portugal does not end political instability: NPR

LISBON – The third general elections of Portugal in three years have not been able to lead to the result that the worst enchantment of political instability could break through in the country of 10.6 million people for decades.

Sunday’s vote provided a different minority government for the center -right Democratic Alliance, which will be handed over to opposition parties. The significant increase in support for the hard-right populist party Chega (enough) adds more uncertainty.

Why was there an early election?

The Democratic Alliance, led by the Social -Democratic Party, lost a voice of trust in parliament in March when the opposition legislators worked together. That led to an election that was due to in 2028.

The trust voice was fueled by a political storm around possible conflicts of interest in the business transactions of the family law office of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. Montenegro, who is ready to become prime minister again, has denied every misconduct.

What was the outcome of Sunday’s vote?

The Democratic Alliance won at least 89 seats in the 230-seat places National Assembly. Chega collected the same number of seats as the Centrumlinkse Socialist-58 and could still claim in second place if four remaining seats that are determined by voters abroad are attributed in the coming days.

Chega participated in the first election only six years ago, when it won one chair, and fed dissatisfaction with the more moderate traditional parties. The success shook the traditional power relationships in a trend that was already witnessed elsewhere in Europe with parties such as the National Rally of France, the brothers of Italy and alternative to Germany, which are now in the political mainstream.

Over the past 50 years, the Social Democrats and the Centrumlink Socialist Party have interspersed with power in Portugal. The socialists are now without a leader after Pedro Nuno Santos said that he ended the worst result of the party since 1987.

Smaller parties were given the other seats.

What are the problems?

Corruption scandals have chased Portuguese politics in recent years and help feed the rise of Chega.

Chega is much of his success to its demands for a tighter immigration policy that resonates with voters.

Portugal has witnessed a steep increase in immigration. In 2018, according to the government statistics, there were fewer than half a million legal immigrants in the country. At the beginning of this year there were more than 1.5 million, many of them Brazilians and Asians who worked in tourism and agriculture. Thousands more miss the right documents in Portugal.

A housing crisis has also taken the debate. House prices and rental prices have risen over the past 10 years, partly due to an inflow of foreigners who have increased prices.

The problem is exacerbated because Portugal is one of the poorest countries in Western Europe. The average monthly salary last year was around 1,200 euros ($ 1,340) before tax, according to the Statistics Agency. The minimum wage of the government this year is 870 euros ($ 974) per month for taxes.

What is happening now?

The head of State of Portugal gathered the political parties of the country for consultation.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who has no executive power, was consultation with parties before inviting the election winner to form a government, in accordance with the Constitution.