The headlines in Portugal are all about Chega, a populist right-wing party, quadrupling its number in Parliament. And the Left?
The Socialist Party (PS, Partido Socialista) must be wondering how it let an absolute majority in 2022 slip away to this result, pipped at the post by its eternal rival, PSD (conservative) (together with PP, Christian Democrat and PPM, Monarchist Party) forming the coalition AD.
The difference could hardly be less, with the two main parties separated by some 50,000 votes and 2 Members of Parliament. The results of the 4 Members coming from Portuguese residents abroad (2 from Europe and 2 outside) will be known on 20th March but these results are not expected to change the outcome.
The sensation grabbing the headlines is a Party called Chega, which means “Enough”, and also, “it arrives”, a right-wing populist Party campaigning about “cleaning up Portugal”, eliminating corruption, criticising the political Establishment (PS and PSD, which have governed Portugal since the April 25th Revolution in 1974), and taking a nationalist stance with minorities.
Its leader, André Ventura, thrives in front of the camera and unlike many rightist leaders, has a brain, so pitting him against university lecturers to try to tear him apart is counter-productive: he is a professor himself. One point nobody is saying, however: Chega is a one-man show as we will see in the forthcoming months with the increased scrutiny of its 48 MPs. When Ventura goes, the soundbites and Chega implode. Watch this space.
The Left maintained its political space, collectively with over ten per cent of the vote represented in Parliament, the Left Block (Bloco de Esquerda, a coalition of Leftist Parties) increasing its vote by 30,000 from 244,000 to 274,000 and its share from 4,4 to 4,5%; the Communist Party (PCP) and Greens (Os Verdes), forming the coalition Coligação Democrática Unitária (CDU) maintained a vote of over 200,000, slightly reduced from 239,000 to 202,000 and reducing its MPs from 6 to 4, nevertheless remains a Parliamentary group which does a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes; Livre, an ecological, pro-EU Leftist Party, increased its vote from 71,000 to 199,000 and its MPs from 1 to 4.
The Political Parties represented in Parliament are the following:
AD Aliança Democrática (PSD Social Democrats and CDS-PP Christian Democrats (Conservative, rightist); BE - Bloco de Esquerda (Left Block democratic leftist party); CDU (Coligação Democrática Unitária, PCP, Portuguese Communist Party and PEV Partido Ecológico Os Verdes, the Greens); Chega (rightist populist nationalist party); IL - Iniciativa Liberal (Liberal Initiative, Rightist economic liberalism); Livre (Free) (leftist democratic party, pro-Europe); PAN (Pessoas, Animais e Natureza) People Animals and Nature (ecologist); PS (Partido Socialista, Socialist Party) (Centre-right)
Results 2024
Party Number of seats in Parliament Percentage of vote Number of votes
AD 79 29,5% 1,8 m
PS 77 28,7% 1,75 m
Chega 48 18,1% 1.1m
IL 8 5,1% 312,000
BE 5 4,5% 274,000
CDU 4 3,3% 202,000
Livre 4 3,3% 199,000
PAN 1 1,9% 118,000
4 seats from emigrants, known on 20th March, probably 2 each for PSD and PS
Previous elections (2022) Seats in Parliament % vote Number of votes
PS 120 41,37 2,3 million
PSD 77 29,09 1,5 million
Chega 12 7,1 399,000
IL 8 4,9 273,000
Bloco 5 4,4 244,000
CDU 6 4,3 239,000
PAN 1 1,58 88,000
Livre 1 1,28 71,000
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey can be contacted at timothy.hinchey@gmail.com