The Prime Minister of Portugal, the conservative Luís Montenegro, announced on Wednesday in the Assembly of the Republic that he will present a vote of confidence before Parliament that could mean the end of his Government less than a year after taking office. As he explained, "since it is not clear" that the two parties forming the Portuguese Executive are in a position to continue.
During the debate of the second motion of censure he faces in two weeks, this time presented by the Communist Party, Montenegro announced that he will try "the last chance" for his Government to continue: "to approve a vote of confidence".
The current political crisis - which has erupted 11 months after the last elections - is a consequence of the corruption scandal surrounding the head of the Government. The Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the alleged conflict of interest regarding the activities of the Spinumviva company, which belonged to Montenegro and now has pending contracts with the Government for the renewal of the concession of two casinos. The opposition has also accelerated in Parliament, and in addition to the failed motions of censure, a commission of inquiry driven by the Socialist Party (PS) could now be added.
Montenegro has blamed the opposition for the Portuguese crisis: "the country cannot continue to be a prisoner of the selfishness and tactics of the opposition leaders." "We are not willing to live in an environment of insinuations and permanent intrigues that only have one objective: the degradation of political and governmental life with the intention of gaining partisan or even individual dividends for the specific situation of the opposition party leaders," he accused, as reported by the Lusa agency.
"If it is not clear from the speeches of the main spokespersons of the opposition that Parliament gives the Government all the conditions to implement its program, we will move to the last opportunity to do so, which is to approve a vote of confidence," he asserted. The problem for the center-right Government is that it is in a parliamentary minority, as it only has 80 seats in a Parliament of 230. And the two main opposition parties, the PS (78 seats) and the radical right-wing party Chega (50), have already announced that they will vote against.
If the Government loses the vote of confidence, which is likely, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will have to decide whether to call for elections or to entrust the now ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) with the election of another Prime Minister to lead a second center-right Executive in this same legislature.
"The calling of early elections is not desirable" 11 months after taking office, Montenegro added, "but the motion will be a necessary evil to avoid the degradation of institutions and the loss of political stability due to the will of a few agitators," he concluded.
The motion announced on Wednesday does not yet have a date. If it is eventually presented, everything will be in the hands of the opposition, which is the majority in the Assembly, and subsequently in Rebelo de Sousa's hands.