Portugal's right-wing party made significant progress, according to exit poll results

The right-wing party, Chega, may not have received the highest number of votes in Portugal, but it was certainly the most successful in this Sunday's legislative elections (10).

Chega's leader, André Ventura, announced the “end of bipartisanship” in the country and expressed his willingness to “work for a stable government” in Portugal.

“Absolutely historic. There will be a strong majority on the right to govern. From tonight, we have to start working so that there is a stable government in Portugal,” he said.

The exit results indicate that the party could win more than 20% of the votes, potentially tripling its parliamentary group, electing up to 50 deputies.

André Ventura says that the result is clear, the Democratic Alliance asked for a majority and “the Portuguese said they want an AD government with Chega”.

Portugal lives a system of parliamentarism, that is, the country's main leader is the prime minister. The leader of the party that has an absolute majority in the legislative elections takes the position of prime minister. If no party obtains the majority of votes, alliances must be made with smaller parties so that a government can be formed.

Ventura, therefore, hopes that Luis Montenegro, leader of the Democratic Alliance and who should receive the largest number of votes, will invite Chega to a union, which would allow the formation of a right-wing government.

The Socialist Party, which currently governs the country, had one of the worst results ever recorded, even securing second place in the elections, according to projections. PS representatives say they will strongly oppose and are concerned about Chega's growth.

Everything indicates that Portugal should take a turn to the right from now on.

CNN projection gives victory to the Democratic Alliance:

In Portugal, the Democratic Alliance (AD) – a center-right party – is expected to win the legislative elections this Sunday (10), according to Pitagorica's projection for CNN Portugal and TVI. Despite this, none of the alliances must achieve an absolute majority to be able to form a government.

AD, the coalition led by Luís Montenegro, must guarantee between 28% and 33 of the votes.

The Socialist Party, which won the last election in 2022, should not go beyond 29.5%. Therefore, Pedro Nuno Santos loses the absolute majority achieved by António Costa, which gave the socialists a parliamentary group with 120 deputies two years ago.

As expected, Chega – a right-wing party – had clear growth in relation to 2022 and should secure between 16.6% and 21.6% of the votes. A significant increase compared to 7.18% two years ago. The expectation is that André Ventura's party can almost triple its representation in Parliament, where it has 12 deputies.

About voting:

According to the most recent data from the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs, voter turnout up to 4pm (local time) was 51.96%. According to data from 2022, referring to the last legislative elections, an increase of 6.3% can be noted.

The first projection indicates an abstention rate between 40.5% and 46.5%, below the 2022 legislative elections. This could be the lowest rate since the 2009 vote.

In total, 230 deputies will be elected, in a campaign that cost 24 million euros.

18 parties are competing in the election, three fewer than in the 2019 and 2022 elections.

The issues dominating the campaign in Western Europe's poorest country include a crippling housing crisis, low wages, poor healthcare and corruption, seen by many as endemic to the main parties.

The early election, four months after the sudden resignation of socialist Prime Minister António Costa amid a corruption investigation, once again provokes a clash between the two centrist parties – the Socialist Party (PS) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) – who have alternated in power since the end of a fascist dictatorship five decades ago.