Lisbon: Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa set out to rule alone on Monday after his Socialist Party won a surprisingly resounding victory with economic recovery from the pandemic among its top priorities.
His party won a parliamentary majority in Sunday’s midterm elections, making significant gains for the right-wing Chega party as well.
The Socialists received 41.7 percent of the vote in Sunday’s midterm elections, giving it 117 seats in the 230-seat parliament, compared to 108 in the outgoing parliament. Meeting,
Four seats are still to be credited in the days to come from the results of votes cast abroad, but in 2019 the Socialists got two.
The results defied the final elections, which suggested that the Socialists were in a statistical tie with the main opposition centre-right PSD, which came second with 76 seats.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was expected to formally invite Costa, who has led two minority governments since 2015, to form a new government later this week.
“Conditions have been created to invest and improve to make Portugal more prosperous, fairer, more innovative,” Costa said in his victory speech.
The prospect of a stable government is crucial for Portugal to make the most of the EU’s recovery fund’s 16.6 billion euro ($18.7 billion) package by 2026.
Portugal’s economy is set to recover after shrinking 8.4 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit its major tourism sector and other businesses.
The National Statistical Institute INE said on Monday it grew 4.9 percent in 2021, its fastest pace since 1990, driven by rising exports and investment.
Costa has said he wants to use a large portion of EU funds to make Portugal’s infrastructure more competitive.
Until now, the former mayor of Lisbon had to rely on the support of two left-wing parties—the anti-capitalist leftist faction and the Communist Party—to govern.
“Without being bound by the radical left, Socialist and Costa have the opportunity to implement more centrist and European cuisine,” wrote the daily newspaper Publico in an editorial.
It is only the second time since the country’s return to democracy in 1974 after the end of a decades-long dictatorship that Portugal has a socialist government with an absolute majority in parliament.
Sunday’s elections were called after two left-wing parties, which aligned Costa’s minority government with right-wing parties, rejected their 2022 draft in October.
The radical left insisted on greater social spending and wanted a faster increase in the minimum wage than Costa had promised, but lost both seats.
Professor Antonio Costa Pinto of Lisbon University’s Institute of Social Sciences said voters “punished” the left for promoting early elections.
“A section of left-wing voters undoubtedly concentrated their vote in the Socialist Party, giving it an absolute majority,” he told National Public Radio.
Joy in the socialist camp was diminished by the rise of the far-right Chega Party, which won just one to 12 seats, making it the third largest party in parliament.
Chiga leader Andre Ventura, a tough-talking former TV sports commentator, has vowed to fiercely oppose Costa in the new parliament.
“Antonio Costa, I’m coming for you,” he told supporters at his party’s campaign headquarters after the vote.
“From now on there will be no soft opposition. We will play the role of genuine opposition to the socialists… and restore the dignity of this country.”
Under Costa’s watch, Portugal has rolled back austerity measures, maintained fiscal discipline, raised the minimum wage significantly and reduced unemployment to pre-pandemic levels.
But PSD’s Rio has argued that tax cuts and privatization were needed to boost growth.
His party won a parliamentary majority in Sunday’s midterm elections, making significant gains for the right-wing Chega party as well.
The Socialists received 41.7 percent of the vote in Sunday’s midterm elections, giving it 117 seats in the 230-seat parliament, compared to 108 in the outgoing parliament. Meeting,
Four seats are still to be credited in the days to come from the results of votes cast abroad, but in 2019 the Socialists got two.
The results defied the final elections, which suggested that the Socialists were in a statistical tie with the main opposition centre-right PSD, which came second with 76 seats.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was expected to formally invite Costa, who has led two minority governments since 2015, to form a new government later this week.
“Conditions have been created to invest and improve to make Portugal more prosperous, fairer, more innovative,” Costa said in his victory speech.
The prospect of a stable government is crucial for Portugal to make the most of the EU’s recovery fund’s 16.6 billion euro ($18.7 billion) package by 2026.
Portugal’s economy is set to recover after shrinking 8.4 percent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit its major tourism sector and other businesses.
The National Statistical Institute INE said on Monday it grew 4.9 percent in 2021, its fastest pace since 1990, driven by rising exports and investment.
Costa has said he wants to use a large portion of EU funds to make Portugal’s infrastructure more competitive.
Until now, the former mayor of Lisbon had to rely on the support of two left-wing parties—the anti-capitalist leftist faction and the Communist Party—to govern.
“Without being bound by the radical left, Socialist and Costa have the opportunity to implement more centrist and European cuisine,” wrote the daily newspaper Publico in an editorial.
It is only the second time since the country’s return to democracy in 1974 after the end of a decades-long dictatorship that Portugal has a socialist government with an absolute majority in parliament.
Sunday’s elections were called after two left-wing parties, which aligned Costa’s minority government with right-wing parties, rejected their 2022 draft in October.
The radical left insisted on greater social spending and wanted a faster increase in the minimum wage than Costa had promised, but lost both seats.
Professor Antonio Costa Pinto of Lisbon University’s Institute of Social Sciences said voters “punished” the left for promoting early elections.
“A section of left-wing voters undoubtedly concentrated their vote in the Socialist Party, giving it an absolute majority,” he told National Public Radio.
Joy in the socialist camp was diminished by the rise of the far-right Chega Party, which won just one to 12 seats, making it the third largest party in parliament.
Chiga leader Andre Ventura, a tough-talking former TV sports commentator, has vowed to fiercely oppose Costa in the new parliament.
“Antonio Costa, I’m coming for you,” he told supporters at his party’s campaign headquarters after the vote.
“From now on there will be no soft opposition. We will play the role of genuine opposition to the socialists… and restore the dignity of this country.”
Under Costa’s watch, Portugal has rolled back austerity measures, maintained fiscal discipline, raised the minimum wage significantly and reduced unemployment to pre-pandemic levels.
But PSD’s Rio has argued that tax cuts and privatization were needed to boost growth.
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