Portugal’s Parliament ousted the center-right government in a vote of no confidence on Tuesday, forcing the third national election in little more than three years.
The year-old government of Luís Montenegro was precarious from the start, controlling far less than a majority in the Parliament, and it has recently been tarnished by a controversy over his business dealings.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that the election to form a new government could take place in May.
Mr. Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance, a coalition of conservative parties, finished first in the March 2024 election, but with only 29 percent of the vote, barely ahead of the Socialist Party. The hard-right Chega party, just a few years old, secured 18 percent of the vote to finish third.
With no party able to assemble a majority coalition, Mr. Montenegro formed a minority government.
Last month, Portuguese newspapers reported that the prime minister’s family owned a real estate and consulting company, and that among its clients was a casino operator whose concession contracts depended on government decisions.
Mr. Montenegro said he had transferred his ownership stake to his wife in 2022, and had not profited directly from it since taking power. But opposition parties said the revelations raised concerns about potential serious conflicts of interest and demanded investigations, prompting the vote of confidence that the government lost on Tuesday.
The Socialist Party, which governed from 2015 to 2024, and Chega stand to benefit from the damage to the mainstream conservatives, but both of those leading opposition parties have been accused of ethical failings of their own.
A Chega lawmaker was charged in January with stealing luggage at Lisbon’s airport, and in February a senior party member was accused of paying a minor for sex, a blow to the party’s law-and-order image. Both were expelled from the party.
In January 2022, the Socialist Party won an absolute majority of seats in the Parliament, enabling it to govern without coalition partners. But in November 2023, Prime Minister António Costa’s name was linked to an investigation of suspected ties between government officials and lithium and hydrogen exploration businesses, leading to his resignation and snap elections.
Mr. Costa was not charged, and has since become president of the European Council, the group of European Union heads of government, but a former chief of staff of his does face charges in the case.
