CIVICUS discusses Portugal’s recent election with Jorge Máximo, a board member of Transparency International (TI) Portugal, a civil society organisation (CSO) that tackles corruption, promotes transparency and good governance and defends human rights and democratic values.
On 18 May, Portugal held its third election in less than four years. This followed the collapse of a minority centre-right coalition government formed by the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic People’s Party, in the wake of a corruption scandal that shook public confidence and reshaped party dynamics. The centre-right coalition again came first, but the far-right Chega party achieved its best ever result, taking over 22 per cent of the vote.