AD (centre right alliance) wins elections with 29.49% of votes
In the very early hours of this morning, Pedro Nuno Santos – secretary general of Portugal’s PS Socialists who have governed for the past eight years – conceded defeat to AD in Sunday’s legislative elections, saying that he would not stand in the way of the formation of a centre-right executive.
But he warned that he would “lead the opposition and renew his party” – as commentators have all pointed to the precarious nature of whatever government may be formed.
In Portugal, without the emigration constituencies (results of which will come over the next few days), the PS won 1.759 million votes, almost 542,000 fewer than in the 2022 legislative elections, which it won with an absolute majority.
So far the party has only 77 seats out of a total of 230, compared to 120 two years ago.
Unlike what happened in the 2022 legislative elections, when António Costa’s absolute majority was achieved through victories in every constituency except Madeira, this time Pedro Nuno Santos’ PS was once again defeated in terms of seats in Funchal, but also in Braga, Bragança, Porto, Aveiro and Leiria.
The PS tied in seats with the AD (Democratic Alliance) in Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, the Azores and Viseu. In Portalegre, it tied with CHEGA. And it tied with CHEGA and AD in Guarda, Santarém, Faro (meaning the Algarve as a whole), Beja and Évora.
In other words, PS Socialists only won in Lisbon, Coimbra, Castelo Branco and Setúbal.
Despite these results, Pedro Nuno Santos insisted when he finally addressed party faithful that his party was “strong, united and cohesive“, promising to renew it and expressing his certainty that the strategic line of opposition would not be challenged internally.
In his final statement, Santos confirmed he would not stand in the way of the formation of an AD minority government – since he does not have an alternative majority to present in parliament and will therefore not vote in favor of any motion to reject such an executive.
However, immediately afterwards, he made the distinction commentators had been alerting to throughout Sunday night: he may be ready to roll over and ‘concede defeat’, but that does not mean he will help AD pass fundamental policy instruments, such as the State Budget.
Lusa writes: “Asked if he would make budgets viable for AD, (Santos) warned that he would resist all pressure, which “has already begun”.
“The PS will lead the opposition. It won’t leave the opposition to CHEGA and André Ventura.
“The right and/ or AD cannot count on the PS in order to govern, because we will not support them. And there will be no division in the PS,” he added.
“The time for tactics in politics with us is over and it is over with me” – according to Lusa, this was “a response that appeared to be an indirect criticism of the outgoing prime minister, António Costa”.
Over the course of the previous evening, several PS figures, such as Ana Catarina Mendes, Fernando Medina and Manuel Alegre, refused to blame Pedro Nuno Santos for this defeat. José Luís Carneiro, who faced him in the PS leadership race, refused even to comment on the results of the elections, writes Lusa.
Outgoing Prime Minister António Costa seemed willing to take the flak for his party’s electoral failure.
“We are all aware that these elections took place after two years of an inflationary crisis such as the country had not seen for 30 years, which was hard on families and accompanied by a brutal rise in interest rates – and our ability to respond was clearly not enough. It created a general malaise,” he admitted.
He then referred to the probable causes of what he called the “protest” vote for CHEGA.
“These elections took place in a climate of alarm, of unresolved judicial doubts, which creates a breeding ground for populism. The next few months, with serenity and time, will allow us to determine what the rise of CHEGA has to do with a structural vote – and represents a fundamental change in Portuguese society – and what it has to do with a protest vote in the face of a situation that we hope will quickly be clarified,” he added.
In relation to the electoral rise of CHEGA, Pedro Nuno Santos considered that it “cannot be ignored”. However, in his opinion, “there aren’t 18.1% of Portuguese voters who are racists and xenophobes.
“There are a lot of angry Portuguese who feel that they haven’t been represented and haven’t been given an answer to their concrete problems,” he admitted.
“We will work over the next few months, in the future, to convince and bring back with us all those who are unhappy with the political system and with the PS. Our path begins now, today,” he said, which signals a very bumpy road ahead for AD in its current form, without having announced any kind of ‘partnership agreements’ to bolster numbers.
Source material: LUSA
