Aguiar-Branco re-elected as president of Portuguese parliament

LISBON, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco, a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), was re-elected as president of Portugal's parliament on Tuesday.

During the inaugural session of the new legislature, Aguiar-Branco secured 202 votes in favor, winning a clear majority.

This marks a stark contrast to last year's election, when Aguiar-Branco was only elected after four rounds of voting, eventually receiving 160 votes.

To avoid a similar deadlock, the PSD worked to build cross-party consensus ahead of this year's vote. After officially nominating Aguiar-Branco on Monday afternoon, the two largest opposition parties -- Chega and the Socialist Party (PS) -- both indicated they would not oppose his re-election, making Tuesday's outcome largely expected.

The Portuguese parliament consists of 230 seats. Under parliamentary rules, a candidate must receive at least 116 votes to be elected president of the Assembly. Enditem