Portugal's new centre-right Prime Minister Luiz Montenegro is expected to announce the formation of his government later on Thursday after his coalition government narrowly came to the top in a bitterly divided parliament.
The 51-year-old lawyer was asked to form a government last week after the March 10 vote left parliament dysfunctional.
He is expected to send the list of ministers to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa later on Thursday.
The Democratic Union, a coalition that includes two small conservative parties led by Montenegro's centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), won 28.8% of the vote and 80 seats in the 230-member parliament.
Outgoing Prime Minister Antonio Costa's Socialist Party won 28% of the vote and 78 seats.
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Montenegro's minority government should take over next Tuesday, ending eight years of socialist rule.
According to local media reports, Nuno Melo, leader of the CDS-PP, one of the smaller parties in Montenegro's coalition government, will become defense minister.
There is speculation that Ana Paula Martins, former director of the Lisbon University Hospital, may be appointed health minister.
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Other parties in the ruling coalition, including the Initiba Liberal Party, which has eight seats, are not expected to be elected to the cabinet.
The far-right party Chega (meaning “enough” in Portuguese) has surged from 12 members in the last parliament to 50, but Montenegro refuses to pass any agreement with the far-right party.
The deeply divided parliament was unable to elect a speaker for days.
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Ultimately, the PSD and the Socialist Party agreed to share the role, with José Pedro Aguiar Blanco of the PSD holding the position until September 2026, after which the Socialist Party would take over.
The new government faces calmer waters on the financial and economic front, inheriting a budget surplus of 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), compared to Portugal's return to democracy after a 1974 coup. This is the second annual surplus since.
Outgoing Prime Minister Costa met with his successor on Wednesday and said he was stepping down, saying he had “achieved his mission” even though he wanted to make further progress on some issues, such as health.
“The new administration certainly has a lot of problems to solve,” Costa said.
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