Europhiles spared no time warning against a populist backlash after the shock resignation of Portugal’s socialist PM António Costa over a green energy scandal, which has resulted in snap elections in the Atlantic nation.
Lisbon’s political scene is still coming to terms with Costa’s departure. This comes after police raids on his official residence and the homes of multiple members of his Cabinet in connection with a corruption probe around the mining of lithium and the production of hydrogen energy. The probe suggests an extensive grift network involving public funds.
Portuguese citizens will now go to the polls in March 2024 after an election campaign that pundits predict could hand momentum to the populist Right in the form of the Chega party.
Costa’s government had previously earned heavy criticism for the so-called Sines hydrogen project located in the south of the country as well as the irresponsible mining of Lithium. This week’s allegations point to a vast network of under-the-table payments and the misuse of public funds by Portuguese officials.
On Thursday, the spotlight turned to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who held crisis meetings on whether to dissolve parliament and call a new election. That decision was reached Friday morning with parliament now expected to be dissolved in December and fresh elections called in March, a timeline that enables the Socialists to regroup.
Since the restoration of democracy in the 1970s, political power in Portugal has largely been shared between the centre-left Socialist Party (PS) and the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD).
With Costa’s resignation, many mainstream outlets now postulate that the right-wing populist Chega party could play a kingmaker role in the potential new Portuguese government, in coalition with PSD.
Founded in 2019 on a national conservative platform, Chega is regarded by many as the third largest force in Portuguese politics with twelve parliamentary seats and 14% support. Its leader, André Ventura, has been vocal on the domestic airwaves about the need for immediate elections while the party’s social media doubled down on its anti-elitist message following Costa’s resignation.
According to Rafael Pinto Borges, a spokesman with Nova Direita, an alternative conservative party to Chega, the impending elections are set to be a “very happy occasion” for the political right in Portugal and the greatest chance to puncture socialist and liberal hegemony in the country since the 1970s.
Despite previous denouncements of Chega for extremism and promises by the establishment not to enter a coalition with them, Borges believes that there is a reasonable chance that Chega could enter government with the Social Democrats. However, he believes that his own party Nova Direita is a better fit due to the lack of political baggage.
Costa’s exit and the chaos in Portugal also changes the calculus on who shall be the successor to Charles Michel for the influential position of President of the European Council. The disgraced Portuguese premier was previously regarded as a shoo-in, especially after Dutch caretaker PM Mark Rutte ruled himself out to make a stab at running NATO.
