Portugal 2022: Costa's Stunning Majority - a podcast by Sam Rippon and Chern Han Mah

This week's episode looks back at the results of the Portuguese legislative election and discusses the recently concluded turbulent contest to succeed Sergio Matterella as Italian President. After initially pledging to stand down and after seven inconclusive ballots of delegates, Mattarella agreed to return as President for a second term after Mario Draghi reached out. Why did he end up being the only consensus candidate? What does it say about the state of Italian politics that no other candidate could receive majority support across the parties? And after expressing an interest in serving as President, could Mario Draghi be transitioning from one office to another after next year’s general election?

In Portugal, Antonio Costa has emerged from the snap legislative election with his first absolute majority and a third term in office for his Socialist Party. As the dust settles, Sam and Chern discuss how the race swung towards the Socialists in the final days and whether they are surprised at the overall result. How did Costa manage to pull off this victory given the narrowing of the polls throughout the campaign? Were the Left Bloc and Communists blamed for this election at the ballot box? How will the Social Democrats respond to their seat count falling and Rui Rio bringing his leadership to an end? And with the rise of CHEGA, is this the beginning of a realignment of the Portuguese party system? All these questions, and more, answered in this week's podcast.

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