Portugal Legislative Elections 2024: results and analysis

In Portugal, the legislative elections took place two years earlier than expected. The country went to the polls last Sunday, March 10, and more than 10.8 million voters were called to choose the 230 deputies who will sit in the Assembly of the Republic (AR).

1. Democratic Alliance (AD)

With the support of 29.49% of the Portuguese – and a small advantage over the Socialist Party – the Democratic Alliance won a narrow victory and 79 seats. It was a long election night and projections pointed to a possible technical tie between the two. However, the coalition – made up of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), the CDS-People’s Party (CDS-PP) and the Monarchist People’s Party (PPM) – seems to have convinced the Portuguese.

Calling for “Ambitious and Realistic Change in the Portuguese Economy”, as shown in the electoral program, Luís Montenegro defined some priorities for the legislature, for example increasing salaries, reducing taxes, resolving the crisis in the housing sector and introducing a more competitive economy. With the announcement of these measures, he managed to get the Social Democrats ahead of the PS, which then became Portugal’s second largest political force.

2. Socialist Party (PS)

Later, after the projections dictated AD’s victory, Pedro Nuno Santos congratulated the coalition and noted that “the PS will be the opposition”. Proposals such as improving salaries and incomes, valuing health professionals and changes to the IRS earned the Socialist Party the vote of 28.66% of citizens.

Behind the Socialists, the extreme right followed, with Chega winning the title of third political force. The party led by André Ventura won the trust of one million Portuguese – more or less – and was considered the big winner of election night, as it quadrupled its number of deputies to 48.

3. Chega

Under the slogan “Clean up Portugal”, the election campaign was based on priorities such as corruption control, reversing the abolition of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) and constitutional revision. The discontent of the portuguese people was, accordingly to political scientist André Freire, the reason why Chega won the most votes in the Faro constituency. He called it, as shown by Agência Lusa, “a high volume protest vote”.

4. Liberal Initiative (IL)

Rui Rocha’s goal was to elect 12 deputies, but the 5.08% of votes allowed him only to keep 8 deputies in the Assembly of the Republic. The party head has denied the possibility of a rapprochement with Chega and, more recently, has also decided that he will not make a deal with the Democratic Alliance. In these early parliamentary elections, the liberals proposed, for example, the privatization of TAP, a reduction in taxes and an increase in buying power, as well as less bureaucracy in the housing sector.

5. Left Bloc (BE)

As happened previously – in 2022 -, the party coordinated by Mariana Mortágua has kept the same number of deputies. On the left of the parliamentary bench there will be 5 representatives of the party to defend the anti-capitalist ideology. Reducing the weekly emergency medicine hours, setting a limit on tuition fees and bringing an end to golden visas were some of the BE’s proposals for the 2024 legislative elections.

6. Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU)

The election night didn’t bring the best news for the coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) and the Ecologists “Os Verdes” (PEV). While in 2022 they elected 6 deputies, this year the voters turned the tables, allowing only 4 to be elected. Although the result was not encouraging, and considering AD’s victory “a negative factor”, Paulo Raimundo highlighted that “the workers and the people can count on the CDU”.

7. Livre

With a total of 199,888 votes, the party headed by Rui Tavares managed to go from 1 to 4 deputies. In these elections, the left-wing libertarians made the eradication of poverty, the fair and equitable distribution of wealth in the country and the transparency of Portuguese justice their priorities.

8. People-Animals-Nature (PAN)

Spokesperson Inês Sousa Real’s goal was to increase the party’s representation in the Assembly of the Republic. However, for now, she will be the only one with a parliamentary seat.  Although PAN won more votes – approximately 30,000 more than in the 2022 elections – it has not yet managed to form a parliamentary bench. Ensuring climate neutrality by 2045, increasing the supply of affordable housing and regulating the euthanasia law were some of the proposals for the legislature.

To clarify, the results of the lesgilative elections are not yet complete. This happens because the emigrant votes are not yet known. The count is expected to take place by the end of Wednesday, March 20.