The AD – PSD/CDS coalition emerged victorious in Sunday’s legislative elections, securing 89 deputies. This includes three elected under the AD coalition with PPM in the Azores. Meanwhile, PS and Chega tied in the number of parliamentary seats, each winning 58.
Filipe Alves, the director of Diário de Notícias, described the election results as indicative of a political earthquake. He emphasized, “From now on, the leader of Chega will be the main opposition figure, and the PS is the one under constraint,” underscoring the political shift.
Alves suggested, “The PS finds itself between a rock and a hard place: not facilitating the AD Government would effectively hand the country over to Chega, amidst a global trend of rising populist and anti-European movements.”
He further argued that “the best PS can do now is reorganize under new leadership, heal its wounds, and prepare for the next electoral battle, lest it trails the path of the French PS or the German SPD.”
Alves also considered the potential implications of Chega’s significant growth on the forthcoming government’s priorities.
The JN, in its editorial titled “What victory is this?” questioned the “disconnect from the post-April 25 political reality”: the once dominant parties, PSD and PS, have faded, paving the way for a more tripartite Portugal, with the rise of Chega since it first contested an election.
The article noted the increase in single-member constituencies, concluding that Luís Montenegro’s best effort resulted in empowering right-wing extremists — bolstered by social media algorithms spreading unverified and false information — and the decline of the socialists, who, out of state responsibility, facilitated his government program and budget.
The Público editorial titled “A new country, smelling old” declared that “the bipartisanship that marked 50 years of democracy is, for now, dead.”
The editorial director remarked on the decline of the “founding party of democracy,” describing it as “catastrophic” and noting that the protest vote traditionally benefitting the left has entirely shifted to the right.
David Pontes added that parties like the BE and PCP are endangered, and even the newcomer Livre was unable to surpass IL. The historically red southern region is now overshadowed by the ‘blue Chega’.
Pontes highlighted that while Chega’s rise is a major defeat for the left, it also marks the failure of Luís Montenegro’s strategy over the past year. He criticized PSD and PS for being more preoccupied with squabbling, neglecting to counter a party causing a parliamentary blockade and posing a threat to democracy.
The editorial criticized the parties’ stagnancy, which has made it appealing for some to vote for a party lacking basic respectability.
In the Correio da Manhã editorial, director Carlos Rodrigues stated that Luís Montenegro “gains renewed vigor to govern,” characterizing PS’s outcome as a “historic disaster.”
Rodrigues suggested that if PS’s parliamentary group ends up smaller than Chega’s, it would signify “a significant political humiliation.” He noted Pedro Nuno Santos’s dignified withdrawal, recognizing the core of the message.
The director also observed that PS is “under pressure due to the upcoming local elections and the absence of a presidential candidate.”
Celso Filipe, in his editorial in the Jornal de Negócios, stated that AD’s victory is clear, allowing Montenegro to remain Prime Minister while maintaining the red line against forming an alliance with Chega.
