In Portugal, the minority right-wing government fell in a confidence vote in the Assembly due to corruption allegations against Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. This marks the second time a government has fallen in a confidence vote since the return of democracy in 1974, with the first instance occurring 48 years ago in 1977. The reason for the downfall of the right-wing minority government within its first year in power was related to corruption allegations linked to “Spinumviva,” a family company founded by Prime Minister Montenegro, after he became active in politics and transferred his shares to his wife and two children. Despite the rejection of two motions of censure presented by the far-right Chega on February 21 and by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) on March 4, Montenegro sought a vote of confidence in an effort to overcome the political crisis faced by the minority government.

In today’s vote in the 230-member Assembly, the government failed to obtain confidence with 142 “no” votes and 88 “yes” votes. Apart from the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Christian Democrats in the minority government, only the opposition Liberal Initiative (IL) supported the vote of confidence, while the main opposition Socialist Party (PS), along with other opposition parties such as the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), Left Bloc (BE), Free (L), People-Animals-Nature (PAN), and the far-right Chega that supported the minority government from outside, opposed the vote. Efforts to withdraw the confidence vote and establish a Committee of Inquiry in the Assembly to investigate the allegations against Montenegro were rejected.

During the session in the Assembly, Prime Minister Montenegro stated that the Portuguese did not want a new early election and blamed the opposition PS for disrupting “economic stability.” Montenegro announced once again that he would be the candidate for prime minister. PS leader Santos conditioned the withdrawal of the vote of confidence on the establishment of an Inquiry Committee in the Assembly to address the allegations against Prime Minister Montenegro, claiming that Montenegro, who does not dispel suspicions, was the sole responsible for the crisis. PS argued that a 90-day Committee of Inquiry, as opposed to a 15-day one requested by the government, would be more serious.

As a result of the session’s vote, the Portuguese will have to go to the polls for a third time in three years due to the fall of the government. It is expected that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will make an early election decision on either May 11 or 18. Recent polls published in the Portuguese press indicate that the crisis experienced by the government has increased support for the main opposition Socialist Party, making it the likely winner in a potential election.

The Minority Government Did Not Complete 1 Year

Antonio Costa, who is currently the President of the European Council, resigned from the prime ministerial position in Portugal in November 2023 due to being a suspect in a corruption investigation and was re-elected in the early election held on January 30, 2022, only to go to the polls again in November 2023. Montenegro established a minority government on April 2, 2024, with 80 Members of Parliament, comprised of the Social Democratic Party (78) and the Christian Democrats (2) under the Democratic Alliance (AD).

Allegations Against Montenegro

According to reports in the Portuguese press, Montenegro’s company Spinumviva, to which he transferred shares to his wife and two children after becoming the president of the PSD in 2022, had dealings with the Solverde company, which holds many hotels and casino privileges in the country. Montenegro, who is also a lawyer, is alleged to have been the legal representative of Solverde during significant negotiations with the government on casino privileges between 2018 and 2022. Solverde announced on March 4 that it had canceled its contract with Spinumviva to “protect the company’s name” following the news reports.