The future of Portuguese politics remained unclear on Monday after polls saw the opposition center-right Democratic Alliance take a marginal lead over the ruling center-left Socialist Party, but fall short of the number of seats needed for a governing majority.

With virtually all of the votes from Sunday's election counted, the two traditional political blocs were far ahead of their rivals. But with European Parliament elections looming in June, the explosive ascent of the far-right, anti-immigration Chega party has received the most attention.

According to Monday's results, the Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition won 79 seats in the 230-seat legislature, followed by the ruling Socialists with 77 — a significant drop from the 120 seats it took in 2022.

Chega ("Enough"), which quadrupled its seats to 48, has emerged as a powerful third force that is likely to play a major role in the coming tussle to establish a government. Chega first appeared on Portugal's political landscape in 2019, founded by lawyer and former TV commentator Andre Ventura, who has been frequently lambasted for his negative comments about Portugal's Roma community.

Chega's performance on Sunday represents the most serious challenge yet to the domination of the two major centrist parties — both of which have been in place since the consolidation of Portugal's parliamentary regime at the end of its fascist........

© Deutsche Welle