LISBON: Portugal’s president on Thursday disbanded parliament and called an election for 10 March after Prime Minister Antonio Costa quit over a corruption probe.
Costa, Portugal’s Socialist premier since 2015, resigned on Tuesday after being embroiled in a corruption investigation into energy-related contracts, sparking a political crisis, AFP reported.
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said in a televised address that he decided to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic and hold polls on 10 March.
The conservative head of state De Sousa spoke with members of the Council of State, a consultative body, before his broadcast.
He met the heads of the major political parties on Wednesday as he chose whether to ask a party leader to try to form a new government or to disband parliament.
Call for early election in Portugal
The main opposition parties on the right and left had urged early elections.
The Socialist Party wanted the appointment of a new premier who would govern with its comfortable parliamentary majority.
The president said that this solution was not preferable because the prime minister would not be made legitimate by popular vote.
Holding the polls in March will give the Socialists time to find a successor to Costa, one of the few left-wing heads of government in Europe.
The corruption investigation involves the award of contracts for lithium mining and the production of green hydrogen.
However, Costa insists he has done nothing illegal.
