Portugal: president dissolves parliament

Brussels – The third time is a charm: last night (March 20), Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa dissolved the Assembleia da República, Lisbon’s single-chamber parliament, and called early elections for May 18 through a decree that came into effect today. It is the third time in three years that Portuguese citizens will go to the polls before the natural expiration of the legislature.

The head of state’s decision was inevitable after the collapse of the minority government led by Luís Montenegro, which lasted less than a year. On March 11, the center-right executive did not survive a vote of confidence held in the House by the premier seeking to contain the scandal in which he was involved regarding a consulting firm linked to him, Spinumviva.

The road to early polls is thus open for the Iberian country, from which, however, results are expected substantially in line with those of last year: Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) remains in the lead with just under 31 percent of the consensus, followed by the PS socialists (28.4 percent), and the nationalist ultra-right of Chega in third place (almost at 17 percent).