Portugal’s far-right party deflates in European elections

OVIEDO, Spain

Bucking the broader European trend, Portuguese voters on Sunday shifted abruptly away from the far-right party Chega in the European Parliament elections.

During national elections in March, the populist party seemed unstoppable — rising rapidly and winning 18.1% of the popular vote.

However, less than three months later in the EU elections, the party’s support slipped dramatically. It won just 9.8% of the popular vote and two of Portugal’s 21 seats in the European legislative body, though still up from its zero seats held in 2019.

The Portuguese Socialist Party emerged as the winner on Sunday, winning eight seats and 32.1% of the vote. That’s also a contrast from the March elections when the center-right party squeaked ahead, allowing the conservative Luis Montenegro to form a government.

However, the conservative Democratic Alliance (AD) came in a close second, winning seven seats and 31.1% of the popular vote.

The AD forms part of the European People’s Party Group (EPP) and the Socialist Party is part of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group.

Also moving against the larger EU trend, Portugal’s liberal group The Liberal Initiative won two seats, up from none in 2019.

At an EU level, the liberal group Renew Europe saw support hemorrhage — taking its total representation down 22 seats to 80 seats.

However, Portugal is more reflective of the rest of Europe in that its far-left and green parties lost a significant amount of support, down from four to two seats combined.

While Portuguese voters reversed the momentum for the far right, overall, the country shifted toward conservatism compared to 2019.

Left-wing parties in Portugal, meanwhile, will see their representation dip from 13 seats in the parliament to 10.