With almost all votes counted, the Socialists end up with 42 percent of the vote. With this result, the party even won an absolute majority of the seats in parliament. In total, the PS has 117 of the 230 seats. The party that finished second, the center-right PSD, is stuck at 71 seats.
The result is another boost for the long-suffering social-democratic parties in Europe, which already won the elections in Germany last year, but played no significant role in the approaching polls in France.
António Costa, who has led two left-wing governments since 2015, cleaned up his country’s bad image after the financial crisis. Under his rule, and partly thanks to the global economy, Portugal has experienced strong financial growth in recent years.
Together We Follow and We Achieve!
Congratulations to my friend @antoniocostaps for your victory.
Congratulations António Costa, Congratulations PS! An important victory for Portugal and for Europe!— Frans Timmermans (@TimmermansEU) January 30, 2022
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With his absolute majority, Costa gets rid of his old tolerance partners. His previous two governments were only viable with the support of more radical left-wing parties, including the Communist Party. A conflict with these parties, which, among other things, demanded a higher minimum wage than Costa wanted to introduce, led to the fall of his government in November last year and Sunday’s early polls.
Costa emphasized in his victory speech that despite his absolute majority, he will continue to engage in talks with the other parties. An absolute majority is not absolute power, it is not governing alone. This is an increased responsibility.’
Breakthrough of the radical right
The elections also signify the definitive breakthrough of the radical right, which has been unable to find a breeding ground in Portugal for a long time. Chega (‘Basta’), the party that opposes minorities such as the Roma, is in the exit poll with 7 percent of the vote. With this, Chega, which until now had to make do with one seat, seems to become the third party in the country.
The turnout in the elections was between 56 and 60 percent. The fact that so many voting Portuguese did not think it was worth casting a vote made analysts worried about the involvement of the population in politics. The turnout is higher than in the parliamentary elections in 2019. At the time, slightly more than half of the voters stayed at home.
Correction (31-01-’22): an earlier version stated that the turnout in the elections was 40 to 44 percent. This was precisely the percentage that stayed at home. This has been corrected in the version above.
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