Portugal’s minority government loses confidence vote, triggering early election

Portugal’s minority government lost a confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday, forcing its resignation and bringing the European Union country’s third general election in three years.

The exact vote count was not immediately available, but the speaker of parliament Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco said the centre-right government was defeated.

The government, a two-party alliance led by the Social Democratic Party and in power for less than a year, had just 80 seats in the current 230-seat legislature.

An overwhelming majority of opposition MPs had vowed to vote against it.

The government asked for the confidence vote, saying it was needed to “dispel uncertainty” about its own future amid a simmering political crisis that has focused on Social Democrat Prime Minister Luis Montenegro and distracted attention from government policy.

The controversy has revolved around potential conflicts of interest in the business dealings of Mr Montenegro’s family law firm.

A new election is likely in May. The next general election in Portugal had been scheduled for January 2028.