The growth of the far right imposes instability in Portugal and will complicate governance | Sandra Cohen's blog

At the end of a foggy night The only ones who have good reasons to celebrate Members were Far-right party He arrivesWhich will be essential in determining the direction of the Portuguese government.

In turn, the right-wing radicals succeeded in quadrupling the number of seats, from 12 to 48, and as a third political force, they will have enough power to impose their discourse.

For all this, the phrase of Chega leader Andre Ventura became logical, as soon as the first predictions appeared: “Today is the day that marks… The end of the bilateral partnership in Portugal“.

If Ventura stated that he would work to form a stable government, with a strong majority on the right, that would mean that the elections would be over The leader of the Democratic Alliance, Luis Montenegro, confirmed that he will maintain his commitment during his election campaign and will not ally with Chiga. – The most applicable formation to ensure governance capacity.

“That would be a very evil thing, and it would be a violation of the commitments I made very clearly,” he predicted in his “victory” speech.

With 99% of the votes counted, four seats have yet to be decided by Portuguese immigrants The centre-right AD had 79 deputies and the Socialist Party 77. One The parliamentary minority government, led by the Democratic Alliance, expects difficult rulewith the country sinking into a state of instability.

If he continues his mission of ruling out a coalition with the far right, Luis Montenegro will have to practice the daily art of balancing to govern: he will have to negotiate with the Socialist Party, whose party has turned its back on him during his eight years in power. The socialist government, or Chiga, based its rules on xenophobia and populism.

The charismatic Ventura exploited Portuguese frustration with crime, high immigration and corruption to ensure the party's astonishing rise.

Repeat And other far-right advocates in the world, such as Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Javier Mileythat it He questioned the reliability of ballot boxes – It is the same one that guaranteed him 48 deputies on Sunday.

Hey The text is boring. Chega entered parliament in 2019 and attacked voter dissatisfaction with traditional politicians. In five years, he was able to direct the course the country would follow.