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Abstract
The Portuguese elections of early 2022 took place during the most severe wave of COVID-19 infections in Portugal. Nevertheless, the pandemic was not the most important issue in the campaign. Although opinion polls forecast a narrow election, the Socialists gained their second absolute majority in history. The electoral results marked a breakthrough for the radical right and Liberals. Every other traditional party had its worst electoral night in democratic history. The Christian Democrats and the Greens ended up exiting the parliament. The 2022 general elections saw the Socialists rise to dominance and the end of the Portuguese exceptionalism in keeping the radical right at arm’s length.
Acknowledgements
I am indebted to Jorge M. Fernandes for several insights into the rationale behind this research.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 For other recent articles in the Elections in Context series see Little (Citation2021); Pilet (Citation2021); Prosser (Citation2021); and Faas and Klingelhöfer (Citation2022).
2 Own calculations building on data from Freire et al. (Citation2017a, Citation2017b).
3 Source: Economic Bulletin, Bank of Portugal.
4 ICS-Iscte poll, April 2021.
5 However, the last 2021 Presidential (January) and local (September) elections, as well as the Azores Regional elections of October 2020, had already taken place during the pandemic.
6 See https://www.publico.pt/2022/01/18/politica/noticia/vinte-milhoes-viram-debates-afinal-portugueses-querem-saber-politica-1992203, and https://www.rtp.pt/noticias/politica/audiencias-dos-debates-nas-tv-atingiram-no-total-89-milhoes_n1173139.
7 Retrieved from https://foxp2.pt/.
8 Standard Eurobarometer 95.
15 ICS-Iscte Poll, March 2022, and Intercampus Poll, February 2022.
16 https://www.pedro-magalhaes.org/bases-sociais-do-voto-nas-legislativas-de-2022/. See also Cancela and Magalhães (2020).
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Hugo Ferrinho Lopes
Hugo Ferrinho Lopes is a PhD Candidate in Comparative Politics at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, and Guest Teaching Assistant at the University of Beira Interior. His research interests comprise political parties, political representation, political attitudes and behaviour, and youth in politics. [[email protected]]