Portuguese parliament elects PSD MP as speaker in fourth vote

8 months ago 30

Social Democrat MP José Pedro Aguiar-Branco (PSD, EPP) was elected parliament speaker on Wednesday, with 160 out of 230 MPs in favour at the fourth attempt.

As a member of the party that will lead Portugal’s government following the snap general election on 10 March, Aguiar-Branco only won support on the fourth attempt as the new parliament’s first session ended in deadlock on Tuesday after three tries.

For the first time, the new parliament has a group of 50 MPs from the far-right Chega party, the second largest parliamentary group after the PSD (78 MPs) and the Socialist Party (centre-left, also with 78 MPs).

Chega is part of the European Identity and Democracy (ID) group, which also includes Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Matteo Salvini’s Lega.

Aguiar-Branco’s election came after the PS and PSD announced an agreement late on Wednesday that would see the PSD preside over parliament for the first two sessions until September 2026 and have the PS nominate a candidate for the remainder of the legislature.

The agreement, which was not accepted by the other political forces, was made based on the procedure in the European Parliament, where the president also serves a split term.

The composition of the new government, led by Luís Montenegro, president of the PSD, will be announced on Thursday. The government is expected to take office next week.

On Wednesday, outgoing Prime Minister António Costa held a press conference to take stock of his eight years (and three governments) in office, in which he stressed his sense of “mission accomplished”.

Costa stressed that the last eight years have seen “several crises” to which the government has tried to respond, referring to the financial crisis at the start of his term, the forest fires, the pandemic and the inflation caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The outgoing prime minister also stressed that, despite these crises, Portugal has managed to catch up with the European average in terms of economic growth in six of the last eight years, increasing the minimum and average wage, pensions, and creating more jobs.

(Luísa Meireles | Lusa.pt)