LISBON, Jan 31 (Reuters) – Outgoing Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s Socialist Party won Sunday’s general election in Portugal.
This result comes as a welcome surprise to the Socialists, who were neck and neck in recent opinion polls with the Social Democrats, and means that Portugal will have a stable government, contrary to most expectations.
Turnout, despite the health circumstances linked to the coronavirus epidemic, was higher than in 2019, which was particularly low with 49% of voters.
These legislative elections were called in November after parliamentarians rejected the finance bill for 2022, the Communists and the Bloco having voted with the right to reject the text.
“An absolute majority does not mean absolute powers. It does not mean governing alone. It is an additional responsibility, and it means governing with and for the Portuguese,” said Antonio Costa in a speech on the occasion of the victory .
Antonio Costa had declared before the announcement of the official results that his party had won 117 or 118 seats out of the 230 in Parliament, more than the 108 that the Socialist Party had obtained in 2019.
The centre-right Social Democratic Party came second with 30% of the vote, while the far-right Chega (Enough) party became the third political force represented in the Lisbon parliament, winning at least 11 seats.
A stable government will facilitate the release for Portugal of 16.6 billion euros of funds within the framework of the European recovery plan.
(Report Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demony and Andrei Khalip, with Miguel Pereira; French version Camille Raynaud)