Portugal's government calls for early elections

President de Sousa held an emergency meeting of the Council of State today, following the resignation of Prime Minister Costa yesterday and after consulting with the leaders of the political parties in parliament.

ANNOUNCED HE WOULD DISSOLVE PARLIAMENT

Although there was no full consensus among the 18 members of the Council of State, de Sousa decided to go to early elections, announcing that he would wait for the approval of the 2024 budget, which is scheduled for November 29, for the sake of the country's economic stability, and would dissolve parliament afterward.

The ruling Socialist Party (PS) had proposed appointing another candidate to replace the resigning Costa as prime minister to allow the legislative process to continue.

''ELECTIONS MEAN NOT BEING AFRAID OF THE PEOPLE''

Rejecting this, President de Sousa, who has a conservative political background, stated, "To overcome the unexpected political vacuum that has surprised the Portuguese, elections will provide clarity and direction for the country's political future. Elections are an element of democracy and mean not being afraid of the people."

Costa, the leader of the PS, who has served as prime minister since November 2015 and came to power alone by winning a parliamentary majority in the last election held on January 30, 2022, resigned on November 7 after learning that an investigation had been opened into himself and some members of his cabinet for "corruption, influence peddling, and malfeasance" in a case linked to lithium and green hydrogen projects.

As part of the investigation conducted by the Supreme Court, 42 locations, including the Prime Minister's Office in the capital Lisbon, were raided on November 7, and Costa's Chief of Staff Vitor Escaria and his close friend, businessman Diogo Lacerda Machado, were detained.

CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION

Stating that "during his 8 years in office as Prime Minister, he dedicated himself entirely to serving Portugal and the Portuguese people," Costa emphasized that he was not involved in any corruption.

The investigation in question, which casts suspicion on Costa and some cabinet members, is reported to be related to lithium mining in the Romano and Barroso mines in the north of the country and the green hydrogen production facility project in Sines.