Portugal could face elections in May over PMs business conflict of interest

The Portuguese are facing the prospect of a snap election in May in what would be a third election since 2022 over an alleged conflict of interest involving its Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro and a consultancy firm owned by his family, which has made contracts with private companies that the opposition parties say have financially benefitted him.

The Prime Minister has called on parliament to hold a vote of confidence in his leadership just one year into his premiership. If the vote goes against him it will topple his minority coalition government, resulting in the country’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa suspending parliament and calling a general election.

Denying any conflict of interest, the Prime Minister admitted that the country needed “political clarification at this moment”.

“Holding an early election would be a necessary evil to end the atmosphere of permanent insinuations and intrigues”, he told MPs debating the possibility of a no-confidence motion presented by the Communist Party, which parliament ended up by rejecting.

Montenegro’s motion would first need approval from his Council of Ministers and is unlikely to be voted on until Wednesday next week.

If parliament rejects the motion, the government would fall and assume a caretaker role pending a decision by the President on whether to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections with the dates May 11 or 18 suggested.

“I have to think about the possible election calendar and minimise the costs in terms of effects and maximize the speed in dealing with the situation,” he added.

However, political pundits fear that if Montenegro loses a possible election, it could result in the far-right populist Chega party coming to power or forming a coalition.

Chega’s leader, André Ventura, a one-time trainee priest and later TV football pundit who was labelled “racist, xenophobic and demagogic” by Luís Montenegro at the last elections when Chega got 18% of the vote, could gain ground if elections were to be called in May – enough ground to be involved in a coalition government.

Nevertheless, it was business as usual for the Prime Minister yesterday as he flew off to Brussels for the emergency defence summit telling reporters it was “business as usual”.

Luís Montenegro said yesterday: “Our expectation is that we can take very big steps towards the EU’s participation in a peace process that everyone wants for Ukraine, with Ukraine”.

Asked if he felt limited in any way by the prospect of the looming no-confidence vote, the Prime Minister said he felt the “fullness of his role and not limited at all.”

He went on to say that Portugal “is currently one of the most economically and financially stable countries within the European Union”, recalling that, at the end of 2024, economic growth expectations were exceeded, leading to the country being hailed (along with neighbouring Spain) as part of the Iberian Miracle.

“Portugal is one of the few countries in the EU that has had a ‘surplus’, which is being repeated and which will continue in the coming years,” said the PM. “There is no reason to see Portugal as a focus of instability in the European Union, on the contrary”.

André Ventura, who has dropped out of the race for the presidential elections for 2005, said on Monday that he thought Luís Montenegro had lost “all integrity and legitimacy to govern.”

And on Wednesday, he said that the Prime Minister was scared of being held under scrutiny, adding that he would never give him the vote of confidence. A snap election in May has been estimated to cost the taxpayer €25 million.

Image: epa11942570 Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro speaks during the debate on the PCP’s motion of censure on the XXIV Constitutional Government, at the Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon, Portugal, 05 March 2025. Portugal’s incumbent 24th government, led by Luis Montenegro, could be the second executive to fall after a vote of no confidence, following the fall of the first constitutional government in 1977, led by Socialist Mario Soares. EPA/MANUEL DE ALMEIDA
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