Portugal early poll called amid deadlock

LISBON－Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Thursday announced he would dissolve the country's parliament to enable an early general election, on Jan 30.

The president told Portuguese of the decision in a televised speech, in a bid to solve a political crisis stemming from lawmakers' rejection late last month of the 2022 budget proposed by the Socialist Party-run government. It was the first time in 45 years that the parliament had rejected a state budget.

The Socialists' former left-wing allies, the Left Bloc and the Portuguese Communist Party, rejected the budget along with all right-wing parties. Rebelo de Sousa said the rejection left the ruling party "alone".

Rebelo de Sousa said the Portuguese people wanted the budget to be approved at a time when the country is recovering frrom the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the situation left him with no other option but to dissolve parliament and call an election.

He said in Thursday's speech that he took the decision because the divergences in the government's parliamentary support base had become "insurmountable", and "there was no third-way" alternative available with the current parliament.

Of the rejection of the 2022 budget, the president said it was not "a punctual rejection, of circumstance, due to minor disagreements" among the parties that had been seen with previous budgets. "It was fundamental, of substance, due to major differences, in relevant social areas, in the budget or beyond, such as social security or labor legislation," he said.

Portugal's Constitution provides that early elections should take place within 60 days of the parliament's dissolution.

The political crisis, the most severe of its kind for a government since 1974, was caused by disagreements between the ruling Socialist Party and its traditional allies.

An election alone might not solve the political impasse as opinion polls show that no single party or known alliance is likely to achieve a stable majority, Reuters commented.

Xinhua - Agencies