Lisbon: Portugal’s center-right minority government collapsed on Tuesday after losing a vote of confidence, setting the stage for the country’s third early general election in as many years.
Lawmakers voted 142-88 against the motion of confidence brought forward last Thursday by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, who has been in office for 11 months. The vote followed opposition scrutiny over his connections to a consultancy firm he founded, now run by his sons.
Montenegro has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing allegations of ethical breaches related to the firm’s private-sector contracts.
“The insinuation that I mixed my business and political activity is completely abusive, and even insulting. A repeated falsehood does not become the truth, but it contaminates the political environment… this is what populism feeds on,” Montenegro told parliament before the vote.
With his government now in a caretaker role, the next step lies with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who must decide whether to dissolve parliament and call for a fresh election. He is set to consult political leaders on Wednesday, followed by discussions with his advisory Council of State on Thursday. He has previously suggested that a new election could be scheduled for mid-May.
“We tried everything to avoid a snap election,” Montenegro told reporters after the vote.
His administration had sought to convince the opposition Socialist Party to abstain from the vote or agree on terms that would allow the government to withdraw the motion. Montenegro also offered to undergo a parliamentary inquiry into his family’s business dealings—a process he had previously opposed—but the Socialists rejected any negotiations that included a time limit on the probe.
Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos dismissed the last-minute negotiations as a “desperate and shameful” move, insisting that Montenegro was solely responsible for the crisis and was “unfit to govern”.
Portugal's parliament rejects a motion of confidence in the center-right minority government, provoking its collapse after only 11 months in office and likely triggering an early election https://t.co/BtqBw7i6h8 pic.twitter.com/P2fbTVOzUw
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 12, 2025
Political Instability and Voter Fatigue
With an early election all but inevitable, analysts warn that the result is unlikely to bring stability. Many voters are expressing frustration with yet another election cycle.
“This seems like a joke, no one understands why there’s a new election so soon. Politicians blame each other, but all of them are being irresponsible,” said João Brito, a 70-year-old retired civil servant in Lisbon.
Political scientist Adelino Maltez from Lisbon University noted that recent opinion polls indicate little change in voter preferences since the March 2024 election. Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) won that election by a narrow margin, securing 80 seats in the 230-seat parliament, while the Socialist Party (PS) held 78 seats.
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“The problem is that the new election will not be conclusive… The AD and the Socialists are tied. It is a situation that will be difficult for them to navigate,” Maltez said.
He suggested that a centrist pact between the Social Democrats (who lead the AD) and the Socialist Party could be the only viable solution, despite their policy differences. Portugal’s political history has seen only one such agreement before, from 1983 to 1985.
“If they don’t do it, it will be more of the same instability,” Maltez warned.
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