France, May 19 -- The far-right Chega party climbed to joint second place in Portugal's snap general election, posing a major challenge for Prime Minister Luis Montenegro as he prepared on Monday to lead another minority government.

Near complete official results showed Montenegro's centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) had boosted its tally in the 230-seat parliament to 89 in Sunday's poll, short of the 116 seats required for a ruling majority.

Chega, led by former television sports commentator Andre Ventura, and the Socialist Party (PS) tied in second place with 58 seats each.

There are still four seats left to be assigned representing Portuguese who live abroad.

Ventura said he was confident Chega would pick up a couple as it did i...