Socialist Party consolidates dominance in Portugal with absolute majority
Lisbon, Jan 31 (EFE).- The Socialist Party headed by Prime Minister Antonio Costa has won an outright parliamentary majority by securing 117 seats in the snap Portugal general election, consolidating its legislative strength in the 230-member house.
The victory margin might go up after the ballots of eligible voters living abroad who can vote by mail.
The four seats from electoral circles outside Portugal are usually divided equally between the Socialists and the center-right Social Democratic Party.
The Socialist Party has already won 117 seats, and the Social Democratic Party, 76, won in coalition with the Christian Democrats in Madeira and Azores.
In 2019, the Socialists had won 108 seats and was eight seats shy of an absolute majority of 116, while the Social Democrats had secured 79.
The ultra-rightist Chega party emerged as the big winner on its side of the political divide, with 12 lawmakers to become the third-largest political force in the chamber.
It had won just one seat in 2019.
The liberals, who had only one seat in the parliament, also gained among voters to emerge as the fourth-largest political force.
The Leftist Bloc has been one of the biggest losers in the Sunday election, losing more than half of its 19 seats.
The communists also lost four seats in Sunday’s elections.
They had presented themselves in coalition with The Greens environmental party, which had two seats, lost their parliamentary representation.
Animal rights party PAN was with one lawmaker from the four in 2019.
The same was the result for the leftist group Livre.
The Christian Democrats, which had five lawmakers in the outgoing house, scored zero for the first time in 47 years of Portuguese democracy. EFE
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