Election voting is not yet closed. At this moment there is a draw
The PS will meet the National Political Commission (CPN) on the 21st to analyze the political situation, the party announced.
The CPN meeting, scheduled for 9:00 pm at the national headquarters in Lisbon, takes place one day after the results of last Sunday’s legislative elections were announced – the counting of European and Non-European circles remains to be completed. There are four deputies at stake, the PS has 77 at the moment, the PSD has 77 and the CDS has two (giving 79 to the AD).
An official socialist source told Lusa that the Secretariat, the CPN’s executive body, will meet first, next Monday, the 18th. The following Saturday, the 23rd, the National Commission, the highest deliberative body between Congresses, will meet, he said. the same source.
According to the provisional results released by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, without the emigration circles, the Democratic Alliance (AD), which ran on the mainland and in the Azores, elected 76 deputies.
Adding to these results the three elected representatives obtained in Madeira by PSD and CDS-PP, who ran together in this region, without the PPM, gives a total of 79 mandates – 77 from the PSD and 2 from the CDS-PP.
The PS elected 77 deputies on Sunday, out of a total of 230. In the analysis by circle, the socialists only won in Lisbon, Coimbra, Castelo Branco and Setúbal.
On election night, the general secretary of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, admitted defeat in the face of the right-wing coalition, anticipating that he will not obstruct the formation of this executive, and said that he will lead the opposition and that he will renew his party.
Despite these results, the PS secretary general said that his party is “strong, united and cohesive”, promised to renew it and expressed confidence that the opposition strategy will not be challenged internally.
Pedro Nuno Santos assumed that he will not obstruct the formation of a minority AD Government, as he does not have an alternative majority to present in parliament and, therefore, will not vote in favor of any motion to reject this executive.
However, it separated the Government formation plan from the issue of making fundamental policy instruments viable, such as the State Budget. When asked whether he would make budgets viable, he warned that he would resist all pressure, which “has already started”.
“The PS will lead the opposition. He will not leave the opposition to Chega and André Ventura. The right or the AD cannot count on the PS to govern, because we are not the ones who will support them. And there will be no division in the PS,” he declared. But Pedro Nuno Santos went even further:
“The time for tactics in politics is over with us and with me” – a response that appeared to be an indirect criticism of the outgoing prime minister, António Costa.
Regarding Chega’s electoral rise, Pedro Nuno Santos considered that the extreme right had a “very significant growth that cannot be ignored”. However, in his opinion, “there are not 18.1% of Portuguese voters who are racist and xenophobic”.
