The far-right Chega party will be the second largest party in the Portuguese Parliament.
The party leads in the overseas vote and wins key seats, as the Socialist Party has already acknowledged, dropping to third place.
BarcelonaWith the counting of the overseas votes complete, the far-right party Chega has overtaken the Portuguese Parliament and risen to second place, ahead of the Socialists. The two parties were tied at 58 seats after the vote. the legislative elections of May 18, but the votes of those living abroad have given two seats to Chega and another two to the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition of acting Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. AD thus remains with 88 seats, Chega with 60, and the Socialist Party (PS) maintains its 58.
With the counting of the overseas votes complete, Chega has taken 26.33% of these votes, ahead of the AD coalition, with 13.53%. Before it was officially confirmed, on Wednesday afternoon, the president of the Portuguese Socialist Party, Carlos César, took to Facebook to acknowledge that Chega will surpass his party and become the second-largest force in the elections, thanks to the seats allocated by this overseas vote.
The votes of those living abroad award four seats in the Portuguese Parliament, and the Socialists have not won any of them. Two went to Chega and another two to AD. In last year's elections, Chega already won two seats thanks to the vote abroad, while the other two went to the Socialists and AD. The PS lost 20 deputies in the legislative elections on May 18—compared to the 78 it had won in the 2024 parliamentary elections—and was tied with Chega. The winner was AD of Montenegro.
Thus, André Ventura, the man who founded Chega in 2019, will be the new opposition leader in the Portuguese conservative government. Chega's far-right party will therefore have a fundamental role in the new parliament. Montenegro has always refused to govern with Chega's support. But the stability of the new government will depend, above all, on AD's ability to reach agreements with other parties. But given that the Liberal Initiative hasn't secured enough support to reach the necessary majority of 116 of Montenegro's 230 seats in Parliament, the question is whether Montenegro will maintain the cordon sanitaire around Chega's far right or open itself to a pact with André Ventura's party.
