Unfortunately, it seems that, among others, the Portuguese Communist Party pays the price for its political support – also known as Geringonça - towards the social democratic governments of Antonio Costa in 2015-2019 which cultivated empty promises to the working class but ultimately led to disappointment.
Two years ago, on the occasion of Communist Parties participation in so-called “left-wing” or “progressive” governments, we had pointed out the illusions of this erroneous strategy. Read: Communist Parties' participation in bourgeois governments is a deeply erroneous strategy.
On the other hand, the far-right populist Chega party, has secured 18% of the vote and 48 seats in the 230-seat parliament, gaining more than 1 million votes.
The centre right Democratic Alliance claims a narrow election victory over its major opponent, the Socialist Party (PS), but has little to no chance of forming a majority government.
Following the announcement of the results, Communist Party General Secretary Paulo Raimundo acknowledged the outcome of the elections as “negative” and warned over the consequences of the rise of the far-right in the workers' rights and people's living conditions.
It is reminded that in 2019 legislative elections, PCP received 6,3%, almost 2% less than in 2015.