Portuguese President to Meet Main Parties Following Parliamentary Elections
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. X/ @LaRegion_Int
May 19, 2025 Hour: 8:58 am
Rebelo de Sousa will speak with representatives of the Social Democratic, Socialist, and Chega parties.
On Tuesday, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will meet with the country’s main political parties to discuss the formation of a future government. The meetings come after Sunday’s elections, in which the center-right won, the far right made significant gains, and the Socialists lost 20 seats.
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He will first receive representatives of the conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by caretaker Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, at 11 a.m. local time. The PSD is part of the winning Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition. Rebelo de Sousa will then meet with the Socialist Party (PS) at 3 p.m., followed by members of the far-right “Enough” Party (Chega) at 5 p.m.
The president will hold these meetings taking into account the provisional results of Sunday’s elections announced by the Interior Ministry, without prejudice to the districts whose votes are still being counted.
Right-wing parties consolidated their gains in Sunday’s legislative elections. Montenegro’s coalition won, far-right parties increased their presence in Parliament, and the left suffered a setback that triggered a crisis within the Socialist Party, leading to the resignation of its secretary, Pedro Nuno Santos.
While votes from abroad—worth four seats—are still pending and will not be known until after May 28, the Democratic Alliance won the election with 89 seats and 32.10% of the vote.
The PS followed with 58 seats and 23.38%, the same number of seats as Chega, which secured 22.56% of the vote. Compared to the previous legislature, AD gained nine seats, Chega added eight, and the Socialists lost 20.
Among the remaining parties, the Liberal Initiative (IL) secured nine seats with 5.53% of the vote; the environmentalist Livre party won six seats and 4.20%; the Portuguese Communist Party took three seats with 3.03%; the Left Bloc won one seat with 2%; and the animal rights party PAN also took one seat with 1.36%. For the first time, the regionalist JPP party from Madeira entered the Portuguese Parliament, winning one seat with 0.34% of the vote.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
