Centre-right projected to win Portugal election

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Portugal’s centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) was projected to win a parliamentary election on Sunday but was set to fall far short of a majority, according to exit polls, turning the far-right Chega party into a potential kingmaker.

The forecast results signal that the ruling Socialists will be ejected from power for the first time in eight years after a snap vote triggered by a corruption scandal within government, which prompted the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa.

The forecast result would mark another important advance for the right in the EU, where conservatives have won elections or joined coalitions in Italy, Greece, Sweden and Finland in the past two years.

But it leaves the Democratic Alliance, led by Luís Montenegro, facing difficult choices. Montenegro has consistently ruled out striking a governing pact with Chega, an anti-establishment party branded as racist and xenophobic by its critics. Without Chega’s parliamentary support, however, the Democratic Alliance could not reach a majority.

Instead it would need to rely on an abstention by the Socialists in a parliamentary vote enabling a new government to take power. Pedro Nuno Santos, the new Socialist leader, said during the campaign that if his party could not form a government it would not block another grouping’s attempt to do so.

André Ventura, Chega’s charismatic 41-year-old leader, said on Sunday that the results “mark the end of bipartisanship” in the country. “There will be a strong rightwing majority in Portugal . . . We are available to provide a stable government in Portugal. AD asked for a majority. Today the Portuguese spoke out and said they want a two-party government from AD and Chega.”

Asked if he would call Montenegro tonight, Ventura said: “Let’s see. Now I’m going…