Today (March 10th) citizens of 🇵🇹 [**Portugal**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal) go to polls to vote in parliamentary elections!

Portuguese parliament (Assembly of the Republic, **Assembleia da República**) is unicameral and consists of 230 deputies (116 needed for majority), who are elected for a **four**-year term, in 21 multi-member constituencies (varying in size from 2 to 48), by [closed list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_list) proportional representation, and seats are allocated using [d’Hondt method](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method). Read more [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembly_of_the_Republic_(Portugal)). There is no determined electoral threshold.

These are snap elections, ending the term a little after its’ half, decided because of collapse of government and resignation (after eight years of rule) of prime minister [António Costa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_Costa), connected to ongoing [corruption investigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Influencer).

Voting stations are open from 8 AM to 8 PM local time (GMT), and exit polls should be released immediately after.

Turnout in last (Jan 2022) elections was 51.5%.

Relevant parties and alliances taking part in the elections are:

|Name|Leader|Position|Affiliation|2022 result|Recent polling|**Exit poll**|Seats (change)|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|[Democratic Alliance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Alliance_(Portugal,_2024)) (AD)|[Luís Montenegro](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_Montenegro)|right (liberal conservative)|EPP|30.7%|32-35%|TBA|(77)|
|[Socialist Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_(Portugal)) (PS)|[Pedro Nuno Santos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Nuno_Santos)|centre-left (social democracy)|PES|41.4%|26-29%|TBA|(120)|
|[Enough!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chega_(political_party)) (Chega)|[André Ventura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Ventura)|far-right (nationalist conservative)|I&D|7.2%|15-18%|TBA|(12)|
|[Liberal Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Initiative_(Portugal)) (IL)|[Rui Rocha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rui_Rocha)|centre-right (liberal)|ALDE|4.9%|5-6%|TBA|(8)|
|[Left Bloc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Bloc_(Portugal)) (BE)|[Mariana Mortágua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariana_Mortágua)|left-wing (democratic socialist)|GUE/NGL|4.4%|5-6%|TBA|(5)|
|[Free](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIVRE) (Livre)|[Rui Tavares](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rui_Tavares) & [Teresa Mota](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Mota)|left (green progressive)|Greens-EFA|1.3%|3-5%|TBA|(1)|
|[Unitary Democratic Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_Democratic_Coalition) (CDU)|[Paulo Raimundo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Raimundo)|left-wing (communist, eurosceptic)|GUE/NGL, Greens-EFA|4.3%|2-5%|TBA|(6)|
|[People Animals Nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Animals_Nature) (PAN)|[Inês Sousa Real](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inês_Sousa_Real)|centre-left (environmentalist, ecofeminist)|Greens-EFA|1.6%|1-2%|TBA|(1)|

**Further reading**

[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Portuguese_legislative_election)

[Sunday’s Portuguese election: 6 things to know](https://www.politico.eu/article/portugal-election-2024-6-things-to-know/) (Politico)

[What to expect after Costa in Portugal’s election on Sunday](https://euobserver.com/eu-political/158198) (euObserver)

[Portugal votes in election that could add momentum to Europe’s rightward shift](https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240310-portugal-votes-in-election-that-could-add-momentum-to-europe-s-drift-to-the-right) (France24)

[Portugal’s right-wing likely to win elections but surprises possible](https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/portugals-right-wing-likely-to-win-elections-but-surprises-possible/) (euractiv)

We shall leave detailed commentary (and any interesting trivia!) on elections and campaign, to our Portuguese users, or anyone else with worthy knowledge. Feel free to correct or add anything!

by pothkan

5 comments

  1. So, what are the chances that Chega ends governing alone or in a coalition?

  4. The utter collapse of the Portuguese center-left has been stunning to watch. I hope Chega is staved off, but it wasn’t long ago when the left-wing parties had upwards of 60% in the polls combined.

    I think there are two reasons for this collapse. First, despite being supposedly leftist, they have allowed the most predatory form of capitalism take place in the real estate market. This has hallowed out any pretenses of them being a serious economic alternative. The rhetoric may be nicer, but the policies were not substantially different from the center-right.

    In addition, my sense is that immigration has been too high in Portugal but it was taboo to say this out loud until recently. If the center-left is to reconstitute itself, it should probably look towards Denmark/Sweden as a model. The social democratic parties in those two countries have taken a right-wing turn on immigration while not giving up on their economic views. In some instances, they’ve become more left-wing in economic terms over the past 10 years.

    If the Portuguese center-left learns the wrong lessons, they would be wiped out like in France. We’ll see what happens.

  5. So, to OP Chega is “far-right” because reasons (the tv told him to think that) and the communists are simply “left-wing”. Nice.

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