Portugal in suspense as election yields no clear winner

Voters in Portugal may have to wait more than two weeks to find out the results of a general election on Sunday.

LISBON — Portugal’s political future is hanging in the balance after a general election Sunday, with two moderate mainstream parties closely contesting the race and set to wait weeks for a decision on the winner after an unprecedented surge in support for a populist party that finished third.

The center-right Social Democrat-led Democratic Alliance won 79 seats in the 230-seat National Assembly, Portugal’s Parliament, after all votes cast in Portugal were counted.

The center-left Socialist Party, in power for the past eight years, got 77 seats.

The deciding votes will come from voters abroad to distribute the final four parliamentary seats after an election night full of suspense. That count could take more than two weeks.

The hard-right Chega (Enough) party came in third with 48 seats, a milestone result that presented an unprecedented challenge to politics-as-usual, underscoring a drift to the right in the European Union.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/portugal-election-yields-no-clear-winner-rcna142715

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