Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is to swear in the country’s new government on Wednesday at 5 p.m. in a ceremony at the National Palace of Ajuda, in Lisbon, following the publication in the state gazette of the full official results of the 30 January snap general election.
According to a note posted on the president’s official website, the head of state “has scheduled the swearing-in ceremony of all the members of the XXIII Constitutional Government for next Wednesday, 30 March, at 5:00 p.m.” at the Ajuda palace.
The first plenary session of the new parliament is scheduled for Tuesday, 29 March at 10 a.m., with the presentation of and vote on the draft resolution establishing an Ad Hoc Committee on Verification of Elected Members’ Powers.
At 3 p.m. on the same day, the new parliament is to elect its speaker, with Augusto Santos Silva, currently minister of foreign affairs, the candidate proposed by the governing Socialist Party (PS), which has a majority in the chamber.
On Wednesday the prime minister, António Costa, presented to the president details of his proposed government, which is to have 17 ministers, two less than the previous one.
The new ministers are of finance (Fernando Medina, former mayor of Lisbon), foreign affairs (João Gomes Cravinho, previously at defence), defence (Helena Carreiras), internal administration (José LuÃs Carneiro), justice (Catarina Sarmento e Castro), economy and maritime affairs (António Costa Silva), parliamentary affairs (Ana Catarina Mendes), science and higher education (Elvira Fortunato), education (João Costa), environment (Duarte Cordeiro) and culture (Pedro Adão e Silva).
Ministers set to remain in post are Mariana Vieira da Silva (cabinet office), Marta Temido (health), Ana Mendes Godinho (labour and social security), Ana Abrunhosa (territorial cohesion), Maria do Céu Antunes (agriculture) and Pedro Nuno Santos (infrastructure and housing).
Eleven ministers are leaving the government: Alexandra Leitão, Graça Fonseca, Francisca Van Dunem, João Leão, Augusto Santos Silva, Pedro Siza Vieira, Nelson de Souza, Matos Fernandes, Manuel Heitor, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues and Ricardo Serrão Santos.
This will be the third government led by Costa but his first with an absolute majority in parliament. For the first time, there are more women than men in an executive, not counting the prime minister.
The publication of the official results comes almost two months after election day because of the re-run of voting in the Europe constituency, ordered by the Constitutional Court due to iregularities in the count.
The PS won the legislative elections of 30 January with 2,302,601 votes, or 42.50%, electing 120 members of parliament, according to the official results published on Saturday in Saturday’s state gazette.
The centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) came second with 1,539,415 votes in the constituencies of mainland Portugal, Europe and Outside Europe, or 28.41% of the total votes cast, electing 72 MPs. A further five MPs were elected in Madeira and the Azores of candidates put up by the party’s local affiliates in those regions.
In third place was Chega with 399,659 votes, 7.38%, electing 12 MPs (11 more than in 2019). The fourth most voted political force was Liberal Initiative (IL), which elected eight MPs (seven more than two years ago) with 273,687 votes, 5.05%.
The CDU, a coalition composed of the Communist Party (PCP) and Greens (PEV), obtained 238,920 votes, 4.41%, and elected six MPs (four fewer than in 2019), with none for the Greens – one of the two political forces that lost thei seats in parliament.
The Left Bloc (BE) obtained 244,603 votes, 4.52%, and elected five MPs, 14 fewer than it had obtained in 2019.
Poeple-Animals-Nature (PAN) lost three of the four MPs elected two years ago, electing only one with 88,152 votes, 1.63%, while Livre once more managed to see one MP elected, with 71,232 votes, corresponding to 1.71% of the votes cast.
The People’s Party (CDS-PP) was left without parliamentary representation this time, having obtained 89,181 votes, or 1.65% of the total.
