Chega submitted a motion of censure against the Government of Luís Montenegro, which will be debated and voted in Parliament on Tuesday, September 8, at 3 PM, after the hearing of the Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, at 10 AM. The motion will be rejected, as PS has already announced it will vote against, requiring an absolute majority of 116 out of 230 deputies to pass. André Ventura lacks the conditions to topple the Executive, but intends to prolong the Government's wear, keep Luís Neves at the center of political debate, and present Chega as the true alternative to AD.
The Luís Neves case involves several controversies, including the minister's use of a vehicle seized by the Judicial Police, questions related to chemical materials associated with drugs, missing weapons, failure to present income declarations, and alleged conflicts of interest. According to analysts consulted by ECO, the problem stems more from the continuous exposure to the case and the non-replacement of the minister than from the motion of censure itself. Political scientist Sílvia Mangerona considers that the Government is in a "slow and painful autophagic process" and that the Luís Neves case is the "elephant in the room" in Montenegro's Executive.
In Parliament, PSD and CDS-PP will close ranks around the Government, while PS, by voting against the motion, finds itself in a delicate situation. The socialists will have to explain that they vote against for reasons of institutional stability and not for complicity with the Executive, risking being associated with the defense of Luís Neves. According to André Azevedo Alves, Ventura manages to "stick" PS to AD, politically benefiting Chega, which is the only party in this equation that "has nothing to lose".
The motion serves as a dress rehearsal before the presentation of OE2027, possibly setting expectations regarding Chega's positioning in the Budget vote. The tension between the President of the Republic, António José Seguro, and the prime minister has also intensified, with Montenegro rejecting public pressures to remove Luís Neves. The rejection of the motion resolves the formal question but maintains the political problem: the minister's permanence, discomfort within PSD, PS's difficulty in leading the opposition, and Chega's rise—all factors that will influence the discussion of the State Budget for 2027.
