All Portuguese parties ask president to call early elections except Costa’s socialists

All political forces in Portugal asked President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Wednesday to call early elections ‘in two months’, following Prime Minister António Costa’s resignation.

Prime Minister António Costa resigned on Tuesday after it was confirmed he is being investigated as part of a wider high-level corruption probe into mining and energy concessions.

After accepting his resignation, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced he would meet with all parties on Wednesday and his advisors on Thursday to decide whether to appoint a new prime minister candidate or to call early elections. After his hearings, de Sousa will “speak to the country immediately”, he said.

“The preferred solution” for the socialists is for the president to appoint a caretaker prime minister to head a new government supported by the current socialist parliamentary majority.

However, opposition leader Luís Montenegro, head of centre-right PSD (EPP), is calling for early elections “as soon as possible”. The same was defended by the other parties, including the third-in-line party, far-right Chega. Check the latest polls here.

The parties are not keen on delaying the dissolution of parliament to allow the approval – by the socialist majority – of the Portgual’s 2024 budget.

Still, Montenegro said he would not stand in the way of the budget “if it is more useful to the country”, but defended that “everything that can be accelerated must be accelerated” and elections should be held in “two months or so”.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa previously said that an early departure by António Costa would lead to the dissolution of parliament, ruling out the formation of another government with the same socialist majority.

Data centre scheme engulfs Costa

At the heart of the investigation, which began in 2019, is the construction of a data centre in Sines worth €3.5 billion, developed by Start Campus, and inaugurated by Costa in April 2021.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, lawyer and consultant Diogo Lacerda Machado – a close friend to Costa – allegedly used this friendship to influence decisions by the government and other entities affecting the centre.

In addition to his friendship with the prime minister, Machado also had a close relationship with Vítor Escária, Costa’s chief of staff, through whom he allegedly facilitated the access of Start Campus’s directors to members of the government, according to documents obtained by Lusa.

From 2021 onwards, the Machado allegedly made regular contact with António Costa and his chief of staff, but also with other members of the government, namely the Minister of Infrastructure, João Galamba, who was indicted Tuesday.

According to the public prosecutor’s office, the chief of staff accepted Machado’s requests to intervene with the government and other organisations on issues involving the company, whose director gained direct and regular access to Minister Galamba, in contacts like formal meetings, private lunches and dinners.

The public prosecutor’s office considered there to be strong evidence of the offences of active and passive corruption of a political officeholder, influence peddling and prevarication.

(João Godinho and Maria de Deus Rodrigues | Lusa.pt)