‘The people want this Government and do not want any other,’ Portugal’s Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said.
Portugal’s incumbent Democratic Alliance, led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, won the most votes in the May 18 general election but failed again to secure a parliamentary majority.
Election results showed the center-right Democratic Alliance had secured 32.1 percent of the vote, followed by the Socialist Party at 23.4 percent and the conservative populist party Chega with 22.6 percent.
The Democratic Alliance won 86 seats out of the 230 seats in the National Assembly, falling short of the 116 needed for a majority. Montenegro said the results reflected the people’s vote of confidence for his party, which was recently ousted from minority government by the opposition in a no-confidence vote.
“The people want this Government and do not want any other. The people want this prime minister and do not want any other,” Montenegro told supporters, Portugal’s RTP News reported.
“We expect a sense of State, a sense of responsibility, respect for people and a spirit of coexistence in diversity but also of convergence and safeguarding the national interest,” he added.
Portugal held a snap election after the Democratic Alliance lost a vote of confidence in parliament in March, triggered by controversy over potential conflicts of interest in the business dealings of Montenegro’s family law firm.
Montenegro denied any wrongdoing.
The Democratic Alliance was in power for less than a year before being ousted. In the last general election, it captured 80 seats and governed as a minority government.
In his victory speech to supporters on May 18, Montenegro called on political parties to respect the will of the people.
“The Portuguese don’t want any more snap elections, they want a four-year Legislature,” he said, to his supporters who were chanting his campaign slogan, “Let Luis work.”
“It does not seem to me that there is any other government solution other than the one that comes from the free, democratic, and convinced will of the Portuguese people,” he said.
