Portugal facing fresh elections after PM loses confidence vote happymamay

The government of Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has lost confidence vote, as the country entered its third public elections in three years.

The deputies voted against him by 142 to 88 without absorption, and they were longer in the government of the center -right minority.

While the President of Portugal, Marcelo Riblo de Sousa, is not obligated to dissolve the association, he made it clear that he would do so if the government lost a vote on Tuesday, with new elections in May.

The confidence proposal was submitted by the government itself, after opposing socialists announced plans to conduct a parliamentary investigation into business transactions in Montenegro.

A company named Spinomeva, created by Luis Montenegro, continued to receive large sums of customers who had previously obtained it, even after he was elected head of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the opposition leader in 2022, and transferred ownership to his wife and his two sons.

The legitimacy of transportation was interrogated to his wife by the opposition, given that the marriage is the one in which the assets are held jointly. The couple has since made their children.

However, the questions about the sources of the company – which included a few days ago, remain 4,500 euros (3800 pounds) monthly of hotels and the Solverde Casino Group, which suffers from the gambling concession for review – as well as the identity of other customers, which the Prime Minister rejected, and the service service.

The Prime Minister, a trained lawyer, says that the company provides advisory services related to data privacy laws, and the use of external sources of external experts – given that his wife is a child, one son and the other is a new graduate.

The Bar Association is now looking if the company provides only the services that lawyers may provide.

In recent days, the Monnegro cabinet has agreed to a battery of spending and other measures, while it is seen as an attempt to show that it is working hard for the country.

The situation may seem to provide perfect conditions for the far -right, the third largest party in Parliament, to renew its attacks on corruption in politics.

Chiga also benefited from the resignation of the predecessor of the Socialist Black Montecine, Antonio Costa, who is now the head of the European Council. His name came in a criminal investigation into government contracts, although he had never made a suspect.

But in recent weeks, Chega has been exposed through its own scandals, with three members of Parliament accused of crimes, including one accused of stealing bags at Lisbon Airport.

Until recently, the Louis Montenegro alliance with the Conservative Party was still ahead of the Socialists in opinion polls, after they won a small difference in the 2024 general elections a year ago.

However, they are now lagging behind the socialists, led by Pedro Nuno Santos, who worked as a minister during the era of Antonio Costa.

None of the main parties appear keen on early elections – not the least of which are because they fear that voters will not be entrusted with having to choose a new government when the current party is in its position for a period of less than a year – and the timing is backed by geopolitical terms.

However, Portugal appears on an unstable track for the May elections.

The Prime Minister not only chose the resumption of voters instead of facing the investigation, a position that the opposition leader described as “coward”.

But Pedro Nuno Santos has long pledged not to vote in favor of any confidence government proposal.