LISBON: Portugal’s president was on Wednesday holding talks with political leaders on whether to call fresh elections, after Prime Minister Luis Montenegro’s government lost a vote of no confidence.
Montenegro, who came to power last year but without a parliamentary majority, quit on Tuesday following the defeat, which was called over a possible conflict of interest row.
Head of state Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will discuss the way ahead in meetings Wednesday with Montenegro’s Social Democratic Party (PSD), the main opposition Socialist Party, the far-right Chega party and others.
Further consultations are expected on Thursday with the Council of State, a consultative body made up of high-ranking politicians, before giving his decision either Thursday evening or Friday.
Rebelo de Sousa last week indicated that he was working on “all scenarios.”
Depending on the discussions with the new parties, he could try to form a new government. Alternatively, he could dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
New elections are seen as the most likely outcome and if called would be the third such vote since 2022. The president has already said they could be held on May 11 or 18.
The president previously opted for elections after the resignation in November 2023 of the Socialist Antonio Costa, who was implicated in an alleged influence-peddling case.
Costa, who has always denied any irregularities, became president of the European Council in June last year.
The controversy that led to Montenegro’s downfall centered around a services company owned by his wife and children which has contracts with a number of private firms, including one granted state concessions.
The former prime minister has said that the family business would now be owned solely by his children but the opposition insisted he provided further details.
Montenegro has said he would stand for re-election if a ballot was called but some Portuguese voters were not enthralled at the prospect.
“We had elections a year ago and now we have them again? That doesn’t seem very good for the country in my opinion,” one Lisbon resident, Maria Leonor, said.
The financial ratings company DBRS Morningstar said: “This increases political uncertainty in Portugal at a time when external risks have increased significantly and pressures to spend more in defense are building up.
“The prospect that new elections can quickly resolve the political impasse is uncertain. Latest opinion polls suggest a relatively similar distribution of seats if new elections are called.”
An opinion poll published Tuesday in the Diario de Noticias newspaper suggested the Socialists were slightly ahead on voting intentions at 30.8 percent.
The center-right Democratic Alliance grouping headed by Montenegro was on 25.8 percent, followed by Chega at about 17 percent.
Portugal’s president holds talks with parties after government falls
https://arab.news/v262w
Portugal’s president holds talks with parties after government falls
- Luis Montenegro, who came to power last year but without a parliamentary majority, quit on Tuesday following the defeat
- Further consultations are expected on Thursday with the Council of State, a consultative body made up of high-ranking politicians
French minister pledges tight security at rally for killed activist
- Deranque’s death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year
- Macron has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence“
LYON: French police will be out in force at a weekend rally for a slain far-right activist, the interior minister said Friday, as the country seeks to contain anger over the fatal beating blamed on the hard left.
Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a protest against a politician from the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party in the southeastern city of Lyon last week.
His death has fomented tensions ahead of municipal elections next month and presidential polls next year, in which the far-right National Rally (RN) party is seen as having its best chance yet at winning the top job.
President Emmanuel Macron, who is serving his last year in office, has said there was no place in France “for movements that adopt and legitimize violence,” and urged the far right and hard left to clean up their act.
Deranque’s supporters have called for a march in his memory on Saturday in Lyon.
The Greens mayor of Lyon asked the state to ban it, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez declined to do so.
Nunez said he had planned an “extremely large police deployment” with reinforcements from outside the city to ensure security at the rally expected to be attended by 2,000 to 3,000 people, and likely to see counter-protesters from the hard left show up.
“I can only ban a demonstration when there are major risks of public disorder and I am not in a position to contain them,” he told the RTL broadcaster.
“My role is to strike a balance between maintaining public order and freedom of expression.”
- ‘Fascist demonstration’ -
Jordan Bardella, the president of anti-immigration RN, has urged party members not to go.
“We ask you, except in very specific and strictly supervised local situations (a tribute organized by a municipality, for example), not to attend these gatherings nor to associate the National Rally with them,” he wrote in a message sent to party officials and seen by AFP.
LFI coordinator Manuel Bompard backed the mayor’s call for a ban, warning on X it would be a “fascist demonstration” that “over 1,000 neo-Nazis from all over Europe” were expected to attend.
Two people, aged 20 and 25, have been charged with intentional homicide in relation to the fatal beating, according to the Lyon prosecutor and their lawyers.
A third suspect has been charged with complicity in the killing.
Jacques-Elie Favrot, a 25-year-old former parliamentary assistant to LFI lawmaker Raphael Arnault, has admitted to having been present at the scene but denied delivering the blows that killed Deranque, his attorney said.
Favrot said “it was absolutely not an ambush, but a clash with a group of far-right activists,” he added.
Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday said the killing of Deranque was “a wound for all of Europe.”
Referring to her comments, Macron said everyone should “stay in their own lane,” but Meloni later said that Macron had misinterpreted her comments.
Opinion polls put the far right in the lead for the presidency in 2027, when Macron will have to step down after the maximum two consecutive terms in office.
