Portugal’s president announces early elections for March 2024
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa © AFP After the resignation of Portugal’s Prime Minister António Costa, early elections will take place in Portugal on March 10, 2024. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced the dissolution of Parliament and the calling of a new ballot in a televised speech on Thursday evening. Prime Minister Costa has agreed to remain in office until his successor takes over. Before his decision, head of state Rebelo de Sousa met for talks with the Council of State. The Portuguese constitution requires meetings with the parties and the advisory body before the president can dissolve parliament and call early elections. During Rebelo de Sousa’s talks with the parties on Wednesday, representatives of the main right and left opposition parties called for new elections to be called. The Socialists had spoken out in favor of appointing a new head of government supported by the previous parliamentary majority. The four-month period until the elections now allows the caretaker government to launch the state budget for next year – which is due to be passed in parliament at the end of November. The resigned Costa’s Socialist Party now faces the task of electing a new leader. The opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), located in the center-right camp, welcomed the call for new elections by head of state Rebelo de Sousa. It is “inevitable to let the Portuguese speak again” in order to restore “credibility and trust in the democratic institutions,” said PSD leader Luís Montenegro on Thursday. The previous socialist head of government, Costa, resigned on Tuesday following allegations of corruption against his immediate environment. Investigators had previously searched two ministries and Costa’s official residence. The investigation revolves around suspicions of embezzlement, corruption and bribery, as the Portuguese public prosecutor’s office said. The investigators are therefore interested in issuing licenses for a lithium mine in northern Portugal, a project for the production of so-called green hydrogen and the construction of a data center in Sines. The public prosecutor’s office said Costa’s name was also given to corruption investigators when questioning suspects. Costa is therefore suspected of having personally intervened in the processes in order to speed up the issuance of the licenses. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the suspicion against Costa will be the subject of a separate investigation. Costa had been in office since late 2015 and was re-elected in January 2022. However, several scandals have recently significantly damaged his popularity, including at the Portuguese airline TAP. Almost a year ago it emerged that a TAP manager had received a severance payment of 500,000 euros before moving to the state air traffic control agency NAV. She later became State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. “TAPgate” has now led to the resignation of more than a dozen ministers and state secretaries. AFP #Topics
2023-11-10 01:16:52
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