Portugal Alliance Coalition Fails to Win Absolute Parliamentary Majority


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The ruling center-right Portugal Alliance (PaF), a coalition between the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the Democratic and Social Center – People’s Party (CDS-PP), wins the legislative elections, but fails to gain an absolute majority in the country's parliament.

With more than 99 percent of votes counted as of early monday, PaF wins the election with 36.8 percent of votes, which is, however, not enough to secure 116 seats in the country's 230-seat parliament.

The coalition's primary rival, the Socialist Party (PS) has been supported by almost 32.4 percent of the voters while the Left Block gathered some 10.2 percent of votes, Sputnik news reported on Monday.

The Portuguese parliament, Assembly of the Republic, has 230 seats. The members are elected for four-year terms.

For the last four years, the PaF coalition has been holding 132 seats in 230-seat Assembly of the Republic, followed by the PS with 74 seats. The remaining seats were allocated among the Democratic Unity Coalition with 16 and the Left Bloc with eight mandates.

According to preliminary data, the Paf coalition is holding 99 seats in parliament and PS — 85 seats.