Center-right leader Luis Montenegro was named Portugal's prime minister on Wednesday night but will have to form a coalition government and battle a growing far-right following his party's narrow victory in parliamentary elections.
The 51-year-old lawyer and veteran parliamentarian succeeds the Socialist Party's Antonio Costa, who has been in power since 2015. His Democratic Alliance campaigned on promises to boost economic growth by cutting taxes and improving faltering public health services and education, which were affected by strikes by teachers and school workers over pay. Montenegro will present its new government next Wednesday, due to take office on April 2, the newly elected leader told reporters after a meeting with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Their meeting marks the end of the process of choosing a new prime minister.
The Party of Montenegro defeated the incumbent Socialist Party in the March 10 election, but only won 79 seats, far short of a majority in the 230-seat parliament. Even with the support of the small pro-business Liberal Initiative party, the right-wing Alliance will still need the support of the anti-immigration party Chega to reach a majority of 116 seats in the assembly.
The rising right
The election was called after Costa, 62, unexpectedly resigned in November amid an influence-peddling investigation that included a search of his official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff. The Socialists came second in the election with 28 percent of the vote and 78 seats in parliament.
The populist Chega party saw the highest growth in the vote, winning 50 seats after taking just 12 in the last election in 2022. This party has thus consolidated its position in Portugal's political landscape.
But Montenego has ruled out forming a coalition with Chega, saying he intends to form a minority government. Chega leader Andre Ventura this week warned of political instability if the Democratic Alliance continued to reject a coalition. He even threatened to oppose her if Montenegro refused to start negotiations.
Budget negotiations
Agreeing on the state budget for 2025, whose deadline is autumn, will be the first test for Montenegro. New Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos said his party would refrain from toppling a centre-right minority government, but warned it would vote against the first budget. Santos said Tuesday he was ready to vote on a budget amendment to increase the salaries of teachers, police, nurses and judicial officers, but a generally favorable vote from the Socialist Party was "virtually impossible."
Montenegro's new government will be "condemned to negotiations because that is the fate of minority governments," political scientist Antonio Costa Pinto of the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon told AFP. But it is not necessarily doomed to be an unstable government, as "none of the players have an interest in causing a crisis," he added. In the event of a political impasse, President Rebelo de Sousa will mediate the negotiations.
Outgoing Prime Minister Costa said there would be "no change" in Portugal's foreign policy. "Even Chega, unlike far-right parties in other European countries, has never campaigned against the European Union or used any Eurosceptic attitude," Costa said at his latest European Council meeting in Brussels. /BGNES, AFP
