Speaker Vote Chaos Potentially A Signal Of Future Gov't Instability

Just days into his tenure as PM, Luis Montenegro is having to deal with the reality of governing with such a small minority in the Assembly of the Republic. His centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) holds just 80 seats in the 230-member chamber, meaning it will rely on the support of other parties to pass legislation and govern effectively.

• Despite Montenegro denying any prospect of working with the right-wing nationalist Chega (Enough) party after the elections, on 25 March Chega leader Andre Ventura announced that his party would back Jose Pedro Aguiar Branco - from Montenegro's centre-right Social Democrats (PSD) - to become the next Assembly speaker. Holding 50 seats, Chega's votes would be enough when combined with the AD's to cross the 116-seat majority threshold.
• However, in the vote on 26 March, Aguiar Branco only recieved 89 votes, indicating that Chega had not followed through on the agreement. Ventura had previously said that without a gov't agreement, his party would not support the passage of AD legislation.
• The main opposition centre-left Socialist Party (PS) and Chega put forward their own nominees for speaker, but neither reached the required majority. As such, the process will restart today at 1300CET (0800ET, 1200GMT).
• Each party has accused the others of backroom dealing in efforts to stymie one another. However, the instability could prove indicative to the future of Portuguese policy making in the coming weeks and months unless a concrete and stable coalition/governing agreement can be reached in an AD-PS or AD-Chega format.