On January 30, 2022,  Portugal’s ruling centre-left Socialists won in snap general election, by an outright parliamentary majority.  The party secured a strong mandate for Prime Minister, Antonio Costa.

Highlights

• The result came as a surprise after Socialists had lost most of their advantage in opinion polls.
• Now, Portugal will have a stable government to look after the application of EU pandemic recovery funds.
• Socialists were confirmed as winning 117 seats out of 230-seat parliament. In 2019 they won 108 seats.

Background

Sunday’s election was triggered in December 2021, following a long-running deal between Costa’s minority government and its allies in Portuguese Communist party. The Left Bloc broke down during negotiations on 2022 budget.

Antonio Luis Santos da Costa GCIH

Antonio Costa is a Portuguese lawyer and politician. He is serving as the 119th and current Prime Minister of Portugal. He was elected on November 26, 2015. He presided over XXI (2015–2019) and XXII Constitutional Governments (2019–present). In between 1995 to 1997, he was the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs during 1997-1999, Minister of Justice during 1999-2002, Minister of Internal Administration during 2005-2007, and Mayor of Lisbon during 2007-2015. In 2014, he was elected as Secretary General of Socialist Party.