Portugal's far-right Chega surges as ruling party misses majority

By Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demony and Andrei Khalip

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's far-right Chega won a record vote share in Sunday's snap election and was vying to become the main opposition party as the ruling centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) again fell short of a majority needed to end a long period of instability.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro hailed the result as a vote of confidence in his AD which won most seats in parliament.

However, with votes from abroad still to be counted, Chega could supplant the centre-left Socialists as leader of the opposition, ending five decades of dominance by the two major parties.

"We've done what no other party has ever achieved in Portugal. We can safely declare in front of all the country today that bipartisanship in Portugal is over," Chega leader Andre Ventura told jubilant supporters in Lisbon.

"Nothing will be as it was," he said, highlighting the fact that the continued rise of Chega, which he founded just six years ago, proved most opinion polls wrong.

Chega gained eight seats for a total of 58 in the 230-seat parliament, winning a record 1.34 million votes, or 22.6%. In the previous vote, it won two out of four seats reserved for overseas voters.

Montenegro, whose AD won 89 seats - up nine - and 32.7% of the vote, has refused to make deals with Chega and said he would form a new minority government.

Chega, which has allied with Europe's hard-right, anti-immigration parties, such as Marine le Pen's National Rally in France and Germany's AfD, has proposed tougher sentences for criminals, including chemical castration for repeat rapists.

It has also called for an end to "open doors" immigration and accused mainstream parties of perpetuating corruption.

Continued political instability could delay structural reforms and major projects, including lithium mining in the north, and potentially compromise the efficient deployment of EU funds and long-delayed privatisation of TAP airline.

The election, the third in as many years, was called one year into the AD minority government's term after Montenegro failed to win a vote of confidence in March when the opposition questioned his integrity over dealings of his family's consultancy firm. He has denied any wrongdoing.

"The Portuguese don't want any more snap elections, they want a four-year legislature," Montenegro said as his supporters chanted "Let Luis work," his campaign slogan.

SOCIALISTS PUNISHED

Voters appeared to punish the Socialists for their role in bringing down Montenegro's government. The party fell to 58 seats from 78, prompting leader Pedro Nuno Santos to say he would step down.

Chega benefited from frustrations with the political system, said Jose Tomaz Castello Branco, a professor of politic science at Lisbon's Catholic University.

"We saw kind of an earthquake because nobody expected such a rise from Chega," he said. "This is really uncharted territory. We never had a three-party system so we don't know what the future will bring."

Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain's far-right Vox party, said Chega's Ventura had "broken Portugal's bipartisan swindle."

In Lisbon, some residents worried what Chega's surge could mean for democracy, comparing the party to U.S. President Donald Trump's government.

Antonio Albuquerque, 65, said it was the first time in his life he had not voted because he did not trust any parties.

"Look across the ocean and see if there is a risk or not. What is Trump doing? I think we are in danger, right?" he said.

European Council President Antonio Costa, Portugal's Socialist prime minister from 2015-2024, congratulated Montenegro and said he looked forward to working with his government but suggested that it would not be easy to govern.

"These may be difficult times," Costa wrote on X. "But I know that, as in the past, the European Union will fulfil its objectives and emerge stronger."

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demony; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Toby Chopra)