The minority government led by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro failed to win the confidence of parliament and has been dissolved, Portuguese media reported on Wednesday.
In Portugal, the minority government led by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro failed to gain the confidence of parliament in a vote and has been dissolved. The results of the parliamentary vote have not yet been released, but the president of parliament, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, announced that the centrist and right-wing government led by Montenegro had lost the vote.
With the result of the confidence vote, the people of Portugal, a European Union country, will go to the polls for the third time in three years.
Corruption allegations
Portugal’s Prime Minister Montenegro, following corruption allegations and calls for his resignation, on Thursday proposed a confidence vote in parliament to end the country’s political crisis. The confidence vote in parliament came weeks before the end of his first year in office.
The opposition alleged that a consulting company founded by Montenegro and now run by his sons had contracts with several private companies, including casinos and hotels, and that Montenegro had profited from these agreements. Prime Minister Montenegro has rejected allegations of conflict of interest or moral failings related to the family company.
Earlier, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that if the government fails to gain confidence in parliament, early elections could be held on May 11 or 18. The country’s next regular elections were scheduled for January 2028.
