Portuguese parliament fails to elect president

Portugal’s fractured new parliament hit an impasse on its first sitting on Tuesday as it failed to elect a president.

The centre-right party of Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, which narrowly won elections earlier this month, did not achieve the 116 votes it needed to see its candidate Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco elected president.

Montenegro’s party is the largest in parliament but cannot secure a majority without the support of the far-right Chega party – something the new premier has ruled out.

Although Chega’s leader Andre Ventura on Monday had said the party would vote for Aguiar-Branco, results showed that many amongst their 50 MPs did not do so.

Ventura blamed members of Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) for publically reneging on an agreement between the two parties that would have secured Chega’s support.

The AD subsequently withdrew Aguiar-Branco’s candidacy.

Having steadfastly refused to form a coalition with Chega, Montenegro has vowed to form a minority government.

Ventura has said he would be responsible for any political instability but Montenegro insisted after he was sworn in that there was “no internal or external reason to doubt our ability to have a stable government.”

According Online earlier reported that Montenegro was appointed prime minister of Portugal but would have to form a coalition government and grapple with a growing far-right after his party’s narrow victory in parliamentary elections.

The 51-year-old lawyer and veteran parliamentarian succeeded the Socialist Party’s Antonio Costa, who had been in power since 2015.

AFP

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