Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), Portugal chose its next government at the weekend after the center-left Partido Socialista (PS) majority government fell in November.
The country’s center-right has claimed a narrow election victory but has little chance of forming a majority government.
Democratic Alliance leader Luís Montenegro told supporters that the Portuguese had voted for change, although the margin of victory was less than convincing.
Both main parties polled about 29% of the vote.
On Monday what appears evident is that the far-right Chega (Enough) party has cemented its bid to be the third force in Portuguese politics.
The Chega leader said his party was ready to help build the next government. But even though he has watered down some of his policies, abandoning demands for chemical castration for rapists, there seems little chance of him having any role at this stage.
Ten million Portuguese had the chance to cast their vote in Sunday’s snap election, four months after Socialist Prime Minister António Costa stood down amid corruption allegations, even though he was never named as a suspect.
As the electoral night of March 10th raised expectations throughout the country, Climaximo, a grassroots climate justice group based in Lisbon, complained that “stopping the climate crisis is not on the ballot.”
The group said the elections, “like many around the world this year, give “the last mandate to stop climate collapse”.
A spokesman for the group said, “Amidst the ascension of the far-right party Chega, the housing crisis, the drought.
“The political instability that led to the fall of the previous government, these elections “are crucial for climate justice”, says the Lisbon grassroots climate justice group.
However, “no party – not even in the left – has a sufficiently ambitious plan to stop climate collapse and deliver a new transformative vision for society”, says António Assunção, the spokesperson for the group.
For the past 3 weeks, Climáximo has tried to put the climate crisis at the center of the debate.
According to the Portuguese group, “It’s not acceptable that in 2024, with elections that give a mandate until 2028, climate justice is not at the center of discussion and that no party presents a plan compatible with carbon neutrality by 2030 and the corresponding emission cuts”.
