In Portugal there will be new elections in March following the resignation of Prime Minister Costa. President Rebelo de Sousa announced this. Costa is being investigated as part of a corruption scandal.
Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has dissolved parliament following the resignation of Prime Minister António Costa and scheduled a new election for March 10th. He said this in a speech to the nation after a meeting of the Council of State in Lisbon. The president said he would only dissolve parliament after the final vote on the 2024 draft budget, which should take place on November 29th. He further announced that Costa would remain acting head of government until he was replaced.
The conservative head of state would also have had the opportunity to allow Costa’s Socialist Party (PS) to form a new government given its majority in parliament. In a survey, almost 70 percent of those eligible to vote were in favor of an early election.
Arrest of the Chief of Staff
Costa resigned on Tuesday after prosecutors arrested his chief of staff as part of an investigation into alleged irregularities in his government’s handling of lucrative lithium and hydrogen projects. Although the head of government denied any guilt, he emphasized that the head of government’s position was incompatible with the suspicion that he had committed a crime.
The public prosecutor’s investigation concerns concessions for lithium development in the north of the country as well as a project for a hydrogen plant and a data center in Sines. According to the authorities, Costa is also being investigated. Five people were arrested on Tuesday before he announced his resignation. Infrastructure Minister Joao Galamba and the president of the environmental agency APA, Nuno Lacasta, were also officially classified as suspects. The public prosecutor’s office searched more than 40 objects.