Portugal's Center-Right Narrowly Wins

Portugal's main center-right party narrowly defeated the incumbent Socialists but fell well short of a majority in a general election that saw far-right Chega surge to become a potential kingmaker.

The result marks another advance for the populist far right in Europe, where they already govern -- often in coalition -- in countries such as Italy, Hungary and Slovakia, or are steadily gaining, as in France and Germany.

Near-complete official results showed that the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) captured 29.49 percent of the vote in the poll, just ahead of the Socialists, with 28.66 percent.

That would give the AD 79 seats in the 230-seat parliament against 77 for the Socialists, who have been in power since 2015.

Chega, led by former priest trainee and television football commentator Andre Ventura, captured 18 percent of the vote, giving it 48 seats, up from just 12 in the last election in 2022.

Even with the backing of the new business-friendly party Liberal Initiative, which won 8 seats, the AD would still need the support of Chega to reach a majority to pass legislation.

There are still four seats left to be assigned representing Portuguese who live abroad, but those results will not be known for days. They have traditionally gone mostly to the center-right.

The election was called after Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa, 62, unexpectedly resigned in November following an influence-peddling probe that involved a search of his official residence and the arrest of his chief of staff.

But surveys indicate many voters feel Costa's government squandered the outright majority it won in 2022 by failing to improve public services or to address a housing crisis that has sparked large street protests in what remains one of Western Europe's poorest countries.