2022 Portuguese parliamentary election

Today (January 30th) citizens of Portugal go to polls to vote in parliamentary elections! These are snap ones, as previous parliament (elected in 2019) was disbanded mid-term, after budget proposed by the minority government was rejected by the parliament.

Portuguese parliament (unicameral *Assembleia da República*, Assembly of the Republic) consists of 230 members (116 needed for majority). System used in voting is [proportional](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_representation) representation, counted by [d’Hondt method](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%27Hondt_method), for a **four**-year term. There’s no set electoral threshold, but effective one is around 1%. Seats are elected in 22 districts: 18 in mainland Portugal (covering 215 of 230 seats), one in each insular community (Madeira and Azores), and two for Portuguese living abroad.

Turnout in last (2019) elections was 48.6%.

Relevant parties and alliances taking part in the elections are:

Name|Leader|Position (EP affiliation)|2019 result (seats)|Recent average polling|**Results** (seats)
:–|:–|:–|–:|–:|–:
[Socialist Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Party_(Portugal)) (PS)|[António Costa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_Costa) (current PM)|social democracy (S&D)|36.3% (108)|36%|TBA
[Social Democratic Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_(Portugal)) (PSD)|[Rui Rio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rui_Rio)|liberal conservatism (EPP)|27.8% (79)|33%|TBA
[Left Bloc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Bloc_(Portugal))|[Catarina Martins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catarina_Martins)|left-wing (GUE/NGL)|9.5% (19)|5-6%|TBA
[Unitary Democratic Coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_Democratic_Coalition) (CDU)|[Jerónimo de Sousa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jer%C3%B3nimo_de_Sousa)|left-wing (GUE/NGL & Greens/EFA)|6.3% (12)|5-6%|TBA
[Liberal Initiative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Initiative_(Portugal)) (IL)|[João Cotrim de Figueiredo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_Cotrim_de_Figueiredo)|liberal (ALDE)|1.3% (1)|5-6%|TBA
[Enough!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chega_(political_party)) (Chega!)|[André Ventura](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Ventura)|right-wing (ID)|1.3% (1)|5-6%|TBA
[People’s Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDS_%E2%80%93_People%27s_Party) (CDS-PP)|[Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Rodrigues_dos_Santos)|conservatism (EPP)|4.2% (5)|1-2%|TBA
[People Animals Nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Animals_Nature) (PAN)|collective|green (Greens/EFA)|3.3% (4)|1-2%|TBA
[Free](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LIVRE) (Livre)|collective|eco-socialism (Greens/EFA)|1.1% (1)|1-2%|TBA

As you can see, Portuguese political scene is quite dominate by two major competing parties (albeit following common European centre-left vs centre-right rivalry) taking **~70% of votes**, further smaller four ~20%, and rest coming to remaining 3-4 tiny ones which matter enough.

**Further knowledge**

[Portugal: Polls open in snap election](https://www.dw.com/en/portugal-polls-open-in-snap-election/a-60601902) (DW)

[Portuguese snap election points to rocky road ahead](https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/portuguese-snap-election-points-rocky-road-ahead-2022-01-27/) (Reuters)

We shall leave detailed commentary (and any interesting trivia!) on elections and campaign, to our Portuguese users (or anyone else with more knowledge what happens in politics there). Feel also free to submit more worthy links, as well as sites to watch the results.