General election held in Portugal

Reuters reported that Sunday’s election follows the failure of Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro to secure a vote of confidence in the country’s parliament in March.

Montenegro himself proposed holding this election after the opposition questioned the dealings of his family’s consultancy firms.

Portugal’s increasingly shaky political landscape is challenging efforts to build coalitions in support of policies on critical national issues such as immigration, housing, and living costs.

Montenegro, Portugal’s center-right prime minister, has denied any wrongdoing, and most polls indicate that Portuguese voters have dismissed the opposition’s criticisms.

Following a decade of unstable governments in Portugal, recent elections have been overshadowed by issues like housing and immigration. Only one government in the past 10 years held a parliamentary majority, and it collapsed halfway through its term last year.

Polls suggest that Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) will secure the most votes and likely a few more seats than in the previous election in March 2024, but it will still fall short of achieving a parliamentary majority.