This blog has now closed. You can read the latest updates on the parliamentary elections in Portugal here, Romania’s presidential race here and Poland’s presidential first round poll here.
Incumbent centre-right party wins Portuguese election, far-right tied for second place
Portugal’s incumbent, centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) has won the country’s third snap general election in three years – but once again fallen well short of a majority – as the underperforming socialists were left vying for second place with the far-right Chega party, which took a record 22% of the vote.
By midnight on Sunday, with 99% of the votes counted, the AD – led by the prime minister, Luís Montenegro – had won 32.1% of the vote and taken 86 seats in Portugal’s 230-seat assembly, leaving it far shy of the 116 needed for a majority.
The Socialist party (PS) had taken 23.4% of the vote t0 Chega’s 22.6%, and the two were tied on 58 seats each.
In the last election, held 14 months ago, the AD won 80 seats, the PS 78 and Chega 50.
Chega’s leader, André Ventura, said his party’s impressive showing at the polls – well up on the 18% of the vote it took last time round – had ended 50 years of conservative and socialist governments and “killed bipartisanship in Portugal”.
But Chega’s elation will be tempered by Montenegro’s explicit refusal to strike any deals with Ventura’s party. “Governing with Chega is impossible for three reasons,” Montenegro has said. “It isn’t reliable in its thinking; it behaves like a political weathervane, always changing its mind, and it’s not suited to the exercise of government.”
