Rebelo de Sousa calls early elections in Portugal for March 10, 2024 after Costa's resignation

The president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced this Thursday that he is dissolving the Assembly and calling early elections for March 10, 2024, after the political crisis arising from the resignation of António Costa as prime minister, in the midst of a corruption scandal affecting his Government.

Rebelo de Sousa has finally opted for the option that had been most popular these days and which the leaders of the parties with parliamentary representation advocated during the meeting he held with them this Wednesday.

The president made the announcement when leaving a meeting of the Council of State that lasted almost four hours. In his speech, he thanked Costa for the “high gesture” he had in presenting his resignation so quickly and pointed out that the socialists' proposal to maintain the current government with a new interim prime minister was not the best solution to resolve this political crisis.

Thus, he explained that this option would mean putting in charge “another prime minister not politically and personally legitimized by the popular vote”, there being also “the risk that this weakness will translate into a mere postponement of the dissolution until a worse time, with a more critical and unpredictable situation.

“That is the form of democracy, not to be afraid of the people,” he said, clarifying that Costa will not be formally dismissed until early December, in order to be able to approve, before the project expires, the general budgets for 2024, in pursuit of “the indispensable economic and social stability” of the country.

Finally, Rebelo de Sousa has opted for the option that had been most popular these days and which the leaders of the parties with parliamentary representation advocated during the meeting he held with them this Wednesday.

The Portuguese president has indicated that he has tried to “shorten as much as possible” the date to schedule the call for new elections, but this has not been possible partly because the Socialist Party needs time to elect a new leadership.

On Tuesday, the Prosecutor's Office searched the headquarters of the Ministries of Infrastructure and the Environment, as well as some of the offices of Costa's official residence for alleged irregularities in the granting of public contracts for the exploitation of lithium deposits and the production of clean energy. with hydrogen.