Far-right further rises in Portugal while centrists win in presidential elections of Romania, Poland
Poland will head to polls again for runoff on June 1
The leader of the Chega party, Andre Ventura greets people and talks to media after he cast his vote to elect the new Prime Minister of Portugal at the Parque das Nacoes school in Lisbon, Portugal, on May 18, 2025.
ATHENS
Far-right further rose in Portugal while centrists candidates won in the presidential elections held in Romania and Poland on Sunday.
In the Portuguese legislative elections, the third one in less than four years, far-right Chega party won over 22.6% vote and nearly took over the Sociality Party, one of the oldest political parties in the country, which formed numerous governments since the country’s transition to democracy in 1974.
Though the Socialists clung to the second position with 23.4%, they won the same number of seats as Chega, 58.
The centrist Democratic Alliance (AD), which consists of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the People’s Party (CDS- PP), came first in the elections with 32.1% and 89 seats.
However, as it is, AD is far-from forming a majority government and will need to convince PSD or Chega, which does not seem likely.
Meanwhile, pro-EU mayor of the capital city of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan won the Romanian presidential election, which was closely and anxiously monitored by many European capitals, gathering 53.6% against his populist, nationalist contender George Simion, who received 46.4%.
In Poland, State Electoral Commission announced that centrist mayor of the capital Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, supported by the Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition party, came first with over 31.3%.
Trzaskowski will face Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian supported by the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS), who finished just behind with over 29.5%, in the runoff on June 1.
To the surprise of many, Slawomir Mentzen, supported by the far-right the Confederation, came third by winning over 14.8%, followed by another far-right contender Szymon Hołownia with nearly 5%.
