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PM Confirms Resignation Amid Corruption Probe

PORTUGAL

PM Antonio Costa has confirmed that he has offered his resignation to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa amid a police investigation into corruption that has seen the PM's chief of staff arrested and the PM's official residence raided by police. For more detail see previous bullets here and here.

  • It remains unclear what the next steps will be in terms of Portugal's political landscape. The likely options are that the governing PS elects a new leader to replace Costa, or the president dissolves parliament and calls snap elections.
  • Opinion polling shows that Costa's PS remains the best-supported party, but with backing well below the level needed to retain an outright majority. The PS could be forced into coalition with the far-left Left Bloc, risking an loosening of the fiscal strings.
  • Alternatively, the scandal could damage the PS' standing, allowing the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) to win power. The PSD is also looking short of the requisite backing to win a majority, and so could end up in coalition with the libertarian small-state Liberal Initiative or the far-right populist Chega.
[Corrected name of Liberal Initiative party]

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