Reunited for the first time since March 10 elections, Portugal’s parliament has already suffered from its fragmentation between the moderate right, socialists and far right, failing to elect its president on Tuesday, AFP said.

PortugalPhoto: Jorge Castellanos/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Editorial/Profimedia

The only candidate for the post of president of the legislative body, deputy Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco of the moderate right-wing party, which won a narrow victory in the parliamentary elections, did not get the required majority of 116 votes.

The result of that first vote was met with surprise, as the far-right Chega party announced it would support his candidacy, hoping to elect one of its members to one of the vice-presidential posts.

But apparently Chega MPs did not all follow the instructions their president, Andre Ventura, claims to have given them.

In front of the press, Ventura accused the members of the Democratic Alliance (moderately right) of publicly denying the agreement reached regarding the election of the President of the Assembly.

Then the Democratic Alliance (AD) of new Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro decided to withdraw the candidacy of Aguiar-Branco, causing a stalemate.

The deputies decided to organize a second vote in the evening, and Aguiar-Branco presented himself again, but this time he had to face two other candidates (the elected Socialist and the Chega MP) and he still did not get the necessary number of votes to be elected.

After eight years of socialist rule, the AD won the parliamentary elections with 28.8% of the vote and 80 MPs out of a total of 230, compared to 28% of the vote and 78 seats for the PS.

Chega, however, clearly established its status as the third political force in the country, going from 12 to 50 deputies with a result of 18.1%.

After promising during the campaign not to govern with the support of the far right, Montenegro decided to form a minority government and appealed to the opposition’s “sense of responsibility” not to form a “negative coalition” to block it.

For his part, the Chega leader continued to reaffirm his desire to reach an agreement with the moderate right to form a stable majority without necessarily entering the government, while threatening to confront him if he refused to negotiate. (Agerpress)