All Portuguese parliamentary elections, despite a record abstention which nearly reached 50%. Socialist Party won with 36,7% of the vote, equal to 95 seats out of 230, followed by Social Democratic Party (which, despite the name, is centre-right) to 28,1%, equal to 70 seats. Third the Left block with 9,6% of the votes (16 seats). Off the podium Left coalition to 6,3% (9), i Popular on the right to 4,2% (4 deputies) and environmentalists of Bread to 3,3% (2 seats).
Antonio Costa's socialists they come close but do not obtain an absolute majority in Parliament. However, together with allied parties, the PS could have the two-thirds of the seats needed to pass constitutional reforms.
However, the voters wanted to reward the government that has been able to revive the country's economy since 2015, modernizing the production system and differentiating the export markets.
After the severe recession and the 78 billion euro bailout loan requested in 2011 from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, repaid with blood and tears measures in the following years, growth went from 0,19% in 2014 to 2,1% in 2018. At the same time, the unemployment rate has halved to around 6%.
These numbers have ensured great prestige in Brussels for Costa and his Economy Minister, now president of the Eurogroup, Mario Centeno.
Moreover, the Portuguese socialists, in contrast with all the other European countries, have won in a panorama in which they are totally absent populist and Eurosceptic forces.
Not only: Costa has even promised to make immigration to Portugal easier, abolishing a quota system introduced by the centre-right, to deal with the low birth rate which threatens the financing of the welfare state. Indeed, according to the EU, the Portuguese population will drop to 6,6 million people in the coming decades, compared to the current 10,3.
