Over 150,000 votes by Portuguese immigrants in Europe were made invalid in the last General Election. Over 190,000 people voted in European countries, meaning that 80% of the votes were made invalid. The Constitutional Court decided on Tuesday that Portuguese voters in Europe will have the right to vote again on March 12 and 13. Voting by post is allowed with a copy of an ID and must be received by March 23.
On Sunday, January 30, 2022, the Socialist Party won a majority of seats in the assembly, winning 9 more seats than the last election. Antonio Costa, the leader of the Socialist Party will remain Prime Minister.
The official forming of the new government by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was set to occur on February 23, but it seems this will probably be pushed back by a month as Portuguese immigrants in Europe will have to vote once again. However, the repetition of Portuguese elections in European countries will not impact the absolute majority of the Socialist Party.
The decision by the Constitutional Court has come after four parties brought the issue up to the court – Livre, Chega, PAN, and Volt. So, why were over 150,000 votes considered invalid? When counting these votes, it was found that there were “abnormal procedures” going on, such as some ballots having the absence of an ID photocopy. Invalid votes such as these were mixed with valid votes in the voting boxes, which made it so that entire boxes of votes had to be classified as invalid as it was impossible to distinguish between them.
In Europe, the Socialist Party (PS) was the most voted party (39.63%), with the Social Democratic Party (PSD) coming second (27.05%), and Chega coming third (11.01%). This of course does not count the European votes that were made invalid.
Outside of Europe, such as in the United States and Canada, 10.86% of eligible voters went to vote, the largest rate since 2019. Thankfully, only 2.95% of votes were made invalid outside of Europe, a large contrast in comparison to Europe where figures reached 80%. Outside of Europe, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) was the most voted party (37.09%), with the Socialist Party (PS) coming second (29.57%), and Chega coming third (11.01%). Portuguese voters outside of Europe will not be voting again, only European voters.
If you have not already, take a look at the full results of the Portuguese General Election below.
2022 Portuguese General Election Results
The center-left Socialist Party (PS) won 117 seats, one seat above the necessary to win a majority.
The center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Rui Rio loses 1 seat. In the polls, PSD and PS were incredibly close so this is a surprise.
The far-right Enough (Chega) becomes the third-largest political party in Portugal. In 2019, only the leader, Andre Ventura was elected into the assembly. This has now increased to 12.
The Liberal Initiative (IL) a center-right liberal party increases its seats from 1 in 2019 to 8 and becomes the fourth-largest party in Portugal.
The Left Bloco (BE) suffers a major loss. From 19 seats in 2019 to 5. Arguably, leftist voters are punished BE for voting against the state budget.
Similarly, the Unitary Democratic Coalition (CDU), a coalition between the Portuguese Communist Party (PC) and The Greens, lost half of their seats, from 12 in 2019 to 6.
CDS-PP, a center-right party with a conservative ideology loses all of its 5 seats. The party’s president Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos aka “Chicão”, quits.
PAN, a center-left ecological party loses 3 seats.
FREE (Livre) elects its left-wing leader Rui Tavares to the assembly, the main goal of the party’s campaign.
⬇️Do you think this will change the results of the Portuguese election? Let us know in the comments below ⬇️
