Election 2024 in Portugal: Report by Humayun Kabir from Lisbon, Portugal. The voting activities on Sunday 10 March ended with a bit of fierce competition between the political parties in Portugal. The coalition led by Luís Montenegro won 79 deputies which is just two more than the Socialist Party, According to the results of the polls,
The center-right Social Democrat-led Democratic Alliance won 79 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal’s Parliament after all votes cast in Portugal were counted.
The centre-left Socialist Party, in power for the past eight years, got 77 seats.
The hard-right Chega (Enough) party came in third with 48 seats, a landmark result that presents an unprecedented challenge to politics as usual with its emphasis on drifting rightward in the European Union.
Smaller parties took the rest of the vote in an election that saw turnout rise to 66%, the highest level in Portugal for years.
A minority government with fewer than 116 seats in parliament is at the mercy of opposition parties when it tries to pass legislation.
Chegar’s support could hold the key to a functioning government for the Social Democrats.
Luís Montenegro said he is now waiting for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s invitation to form a Government.
On the other hand, the new Assembly of the Republic may report to service in a few weeks depending on how long certain processes may take.
According to Article 111-A of the Electoral Law for the Assembly of the Republic, with elections on March 10th, the general counting of votes must be completed, at the latest, by March 20th and maybe earlier, as the limit is ten days,
If the maximum limits of the stipulated deadlines are met, the calendar will be as follows:
March 10 – Early legislative elections
March 20 – Counting of general votes
March 22 – Receipt of the Vote Counting Minutes by the National Election Council
March 30 – Reception of the Official Election Map for publication in the Official Gazette
April 2 – The Assembly of the Republic can meet for the first time and the Democratic Alliance must elect the president of the AR
(NOTE: The law does not specify the impact of holidays on these deadlines (March 29th and 31st are holidays). However, in the best case scenario, a week can be taken off all these processes)