General Election, 10 March 2024

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Antonio Costa in November 2023, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa dissolved Parliament and announced snap legislative elections to be held on 10 March 2024 (Hernández-Morales 2023).  The Portuguese parliament (Assembleia de República) is unicameral, with 230 seats are elected by list proportional representation on a four-year term (Assembleia de República n.d.). 

The responsible authority for organizing the elections is the Comissão Nacional de Eleições (CNE), comprising 12 commissioners (CNE 2024). 

The fall of the previous government was due to a corruption scandal in which several members of the then ruling Socialist party were investigated for graft and influence peddling in connection with a hydrogen plant project in northern Portugal (Demony and Goncalves 2023). 

The CNE raised awareness of online disinformation prior to the election as a priority, especially the use of generative AI to spread fake news. However, the election management body explained that it lacked capacity to monitor the information environment on social networks (Nascimento 2024). Journalists in Portugal said that disinformation during the campaign has decreased compared to previous years, due to the emergence of fact-checking units both within and outside media organizations (Lusa 2024). Former party members of the far-right Chega party revealed before the elections how online disinformation formed part of its political strategy (Santos and Monteiro 2024). 

The OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) conducted a Needs Assessment Report for the early elections, expressing confidence in the Portuguese electoral process and its governing authorities. Observers raised concerns about Portugal lacking a monitoring body for party campaigning on social media platforms, which could facilitate the spread of misinformation and fake news. However, observers noted multiple initiatives by the CNE and other stakeholders to tackle the problem, especially through media literacy projects (OSCE 2024). 

The election had the lowest abstention rate since 1995, at33.8 per cent (Portugal Homes 2024). The overall turnout was 59.9 per cent, an 8.44 per cent increase since the 2022 elections (51.46 per cent). Portugal has a gender quota target of 40 per cent for parliamentary seats, but after this year’s election only 33 per cent of elected MPs are women (International IDEA n.d.). 

The centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), led by Luís Montenegro received the most votes by a small margin, with 28.8 per cent vote share and  78 seats in parliament. The Socialist party placed second with 28 per cent, also receiving 78 seats. Far-right party Chega increased from its vote share from seven to 18 per cent (Assembleia de República n.d.). In April, the new minority government was sworn in with Luís Montenegro as Prime Minister. To pass legislation it would need support from either of the opposition parties, but Montenegro stated he would not collaborate with Chega (Al Jazeera 2024).