LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Portugal is holding a snap general election Sunday, when 10.8 million registered voters will elect 230 deputies to the National Assembly, the country’s parliament. The MPs will then elect a new government.
Two moderate parties that have alternated in power for decades — the center-left Socialist Party and the center-right Social Democratic Party — are again expected to garner the majority of votes.
But a radical right-wing populist party is fueled by disenchantment with the mainstream parties and could help push Europe’s tilt to the political right.
These are the issues that were at the heart of the campaign:
CORRUPTION SCANDALS
Elections are held because the socialist government collapsed in November during a corruption investigation. The scandal involved a police search of Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff. Costa has not been charged with a crime.
Also in recent weeks, a Lisbon court ruled that a former Socialist prime minister in power from 2005-2011 should stand trial for allegedly misappropriating some 34 million euros ($36.7 million) during his tenure.
Luis Montenegro, leader of the center-right Democratic Alliance coalition, reacts to his supporters during a rally to close the election campaign in Lisbon, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
The Social Democratic Party has also been embarrassed by allegations of corruption.
A recent corruption investigation in Portugal’s Madeira Islands prompted the resignation of two prominent Social Democrat officials. The scandal broke on the same day the Social Democratic Party unveiled an anti-corruption billboard in Lisbon that read: “This cannot go on like this.”
A 5-year-old radical right populist party called Chega, or “Enough,” has made the fight against corruption one of its political banners and stands to profit from the scandals.
HOUSING CRISIS
House prices in Portugal jumped by about 80 percent and rents rose by about 30 percent between 2010 and the second quarter of last year, European Union statistics show. These increases were well above salary increases.
Much of the price growth has come in recent years, largely fueled by an influx of foreign investors and tourists seeking short-term rentals. The change is felt acutely in large cities such as the capital Lisbon, where there were many local residents at a price outside the housing market.
The problem has been made even more acute by last year’s spike in mortgage rates and inflation.
LOW WAGES
The Portuguese have long been among the lowest-income people in Western Europe. This is irritating and the latest street protests against pay are coming from police officers.
Last year, the average monthly salary before taxes was around 1,500 euros ($1,630) – barely enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon.
The minimum wage received by more than 800,000 people is 820 euros ($893) per month. That’s 676 euros ($736) in take-home pay. Nearly 3 million Portuguese workers earn less than 1,000 euros ($1,090) a month.
Socialist Party leader Pedro Nuno Santos addresses supporters during a campaign rally on the street in the Lisbon suburb of Moscavide, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Joao Henriques)
Weak economic growth and productivity held back earnings. In the first 22 years of this century, the average annual growth of GDP per capita was about 1%. The economy feels stuck in low gear.
Portugal’s GDP per capita has been below 80% of the EU average since 2011, and had never previously exceeded 83%.
THE LEADING CANDIDATES
Socialist leader Pedro Nunu Santos is an MP and former Minister of Housing and Infrastructure.
Santos, 46, left the previous government in a cloud over his management of bailed-out national carrier TAP Air Portugal and an unresolved dispute over the site of a new airport in Lisbon.
He comes from a family in northern Portugal with successful business interests. When he was much younger, he once drove a Porsche, but says he “didn’t feel comfortable” owning the car, so he sold it.
Luis Montenegro, leader of the center-right Democratic Alliance coalition, cheers as confetti rains down on him at the end of a campaign closing rally in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Luis Montenegro, the 51-year-old leader of the Social Democratic Party, is a lawyer who served as an MP for 16 years after first entering parliament at the age of 29.
He heads the Democratic Alliance, a group of mostly small center-right parties formed for the election. He was never part of the Portuguese government.
Police investigated allegations in 2017 that Montenegro received trips to soccer matches paid for by a media company, but later dropped the case.
Chega leader Andre Ventura, 41, appears to have no chance of becoming prime minister, but could turn out to play a key role after the election if his party’s support surges.
Ventura has had a colorful career. He went from practicing attorney and university professor specializing in tax law to boisterous TV football pundit, low-key book author and bombastic campaign speaker.
