 "Portugal's Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Democratic Alliance (AD) leader Luis Montenegro speaks following the result of a general election in Lisbon, Portugal. Reuters")
Luis Montenegro, the leader of Portugal’s opposition center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) party, declared early on Monday that his party had defeated the government Socialists in an emergency general election held the previous day.
“I always said that winning the elections would mean having one vote more than any other candidacy, and only in those circumstances would I accept to be prime minister,” he said in an address to party supporters shortly after midnight.
“It seems inescapable that the AD won the elections and that the Socialists lost,” he added after partial official results showed his side secured a slim lead over the Socialists, in power since 2015, in Sunday’s polls.
During the campaign, the Democratic Alliance pledged to reduce taxes in order to stimulate economic growth and to strengthen education and public health services, which have been negatively impacted by teacher and school worker strikes over wages.