The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
Portugal’s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) won Sunday’s general election and is expected to form a government. But the far-right party Chega is the real winner. With 18 per cent of the votes (up from 7 per cent in 2022) and four times its previous number of seats in parliament (48 out of 230), it became Portugal’s third biggest party – although for now, AD leader Luís Montenegro says he will not join forces with Chega in government. Portugal was long considered immune to the political far-right tilt trending across Europe, but the early elections – announced last November following the resignation of the Socialist Party’s PM António Costa for alleged corruption – came at a time of popular discontent over corruption, housing, wages and public health. Chega’s nationalistic, ultraconservative and eurosceptic positions align with other populist groups in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, which are expected to make further gains in June’s EU parliamentary elections.