President Marcelo Rebelo de Souza signed this Monday (January 15th) a decree dissolving Parliament and calling new elections for March 10th. “Now it’s up to the people,” he said, referring to the new referendum for the Assembly of the Republic.
The decision to dissolve Parliament was announced on November 9, when Rebelo de Souza officially accepted the resignation of António Costa from the Socialist Party (PS). He was mentioned in Operation Influencer, which investigates signs of government corruption.
The president made the decision alone after failing to reach consensus in the State Council on calling early elections. There was a tie between the members of the advisory body of the Presidency of the Republic of Portugal.
At that time, António Costa even suggested replacing him with another PS representative so that the government, which has an absolute majority in the Assembly of the Republic, could continue its work undisturbed. But Rebelo de Souza refused.
The President and the Far Right
The president's critics claim that by dissolving parliament and calling for early elections, he has helped to aggravate domestic political sentiment and strengthen the ultraright, which currently holds the third bench in parliament.
The far right in Portugal enjoys the support of a large proportion of Brazilians who live, work and study in the country. These citizens from Brazil are mostly evangelical, have dual citizenship and belong to the middle and upper classes.
Brazilians' support for Chega comes despite the fact that one of the party's main initiatives is the expulsion of foreigners from Portugal. Members of the party are openly xenophobic and some even describe themselves as fascists.
According to the latest polls on voting intentions, Chega has between 13% and 17% of voter preferences, while the leftwing PSD and the centerright PSD report 25% to 28%.
However, the ultraright party expects its number to rise from the current 12 MPs to up to 50 and become an important part of alliances that lead to a majority that will appoint the future prime minister and govern Portugal for the next few years.