By Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demony and Andrei Khalip
MADRID (Reuters) -Portugal’s ruling centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) won a snap parliamentary election on Sunday but again fell short of the majority needed to end a long period of instability as the far-right Chega gained a record share of the vote.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the election result was a vote of confidence in his party, but with votes from abroad still to be counted Chega could supplant the centre-left Socialists as the main opposition party, ending almost 40 years of dominance by the country’s two major parties.
The election, the third in as many years, was called one year into an AD minority government’s term after Montenegro failed to win a vote of confidence in March when the opposition questioned his integrity over dealings of his family’s consultancy firm. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Electoral data showed the AD making gains, winning 89 seats in the 230-seat parliament, nine more than in the previous election.
“The Portuguese don’t want any more snap elections, they want a four-year legislature,” Montenegro said as his supporters chanted “Let Luis work,” his campaign slogan.
Chega gained 8 seats for a total of 58 while voters appeared to punish the Socialists for their role in bringing down Montenegro’s government
They fell to 58 seats from 78, prompting Socialist leader Pedro Nuno Santos to say he would step down.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demony; Writing by Charlie Devereux; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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