The world may have gotten used to Ivanka and Jared in the White House but family ties are causing a commotion in Portuguese politics.

After last month's government reshuffle, the Cabinet now features a married couple and a father-daughter pair, prompting allegations of nepotism from the opposition.

The controversy has rocked Portugal's Socialist minority government — which last month survived a motion of no confidence lodged over a recent wave of public sector strikes — ahead of a general election scheduled for October.

Prime Minister António Costa's new Cabinet includes Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita and his wife, Sea Minister Ana Paula Vitorino, as well as Presidency Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva, daughter of Labor Minister José António Vieira da Silva.

The scandal has been simmering for some weeks but gained traction on Tuesday, when Spanish newspaper El País published a scathing article on the recent appointments after Portugal's opposition took aim at the government's staffing policy.

"It is perception that is important, because it gives the impression you just need a relative to pull the strings so you can have a political career" — Luís de Sousa, research fellow at the University of Lisbon's social sciences institute

“The Council of Ministers looks like a Christmas dinner," Rui Rio, the leader of the Portuguese center-right opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), quipped on Monday, adding that even worse than all the relatives in Cabinet is that the Socialists think of it as normal.

The family ties in Portugal's government don’t stop at Cabinet level. According to Portuguese newspaper Jornal Económico, 27 people with family links either to one another, or to senior Socialist politicians, hold or used to hold jobs in state institutions during Costa's tenure as prime minister.

There’s the newly appointed Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos, whose wife Ana Catarina Gamboa is chief of staff for Duarte Cordeiro, the secretary of state for parliamentary affairs. Cordeiro's wife Susana Ramos, meanwhile, was nominated to manage a public fund earlier this year.

Then there's Ana Catarina Mendes, the Socialist Party's deputy secretary-general, whose brother António Mendonça Mendes works as secretary of state for fiscal affairs while his wife, Patrícia Melo e Castro, is a member of the prime minister's staff.

Nuno Santos responded to criticism of his wife's appointment in a Facebook post, saying that the public has a right "to want to ensure that positions of political power are not used for some to serve themselves and their families." But he argued that his wife is "a person of enormous competence" and does not deserve to be discriminated against in her career because of their marriage.

But Luís de Sousa, a research fellow at the University of Lisbon's social sciences institute, said that appointing family members is damaging to public perception of politics.

"The question of possible conflict of interest, though important, might not be the most crucial. It is perception that is important, because it gives the impression you just need a relative to pull the strings so you can have a political career," he said.

When appointing ministers, "if there is no competition or tender, then you need it to be transparent and show the person's merit beyond family ties," he added. "It is not enough to say that a particular choice is based on political trust."

Moreover, if these family ties are unpopular among voters, "they also impair the circulation and renovation of the political elite," de Sousa said.

Portugal's center-right opposition has called on the Socialist government to explain why so many relatives hold positions of power.

"It is against the impartiality principle. There is no parallel in any European democratic government of such quantity of crossed relationships in a governmental structure," Paulo Rangel, a Portuguese MEP and vice president of the European People's Party group, told POLITICO. "Prime Minister António Costa needs to explain this matter."

The Left Bloc party, which together with the Communist Party backs the Socialist government in parliament, also criticized Costa's appointments, albeit in a gentler manner. The Bloc’s leader Catarina Martins called on the government to engage in "reflection" on family ties in the executive branch, adding that “democracy requires more space to breathe.”

The Socialists have hit back at both their parliamentary allies and the opposition, defending the Cabinet appointments.

Carlos César, the Socialists' president and parliamentary leader — whose son Francisco is the Socialists' parliamentary leader in the Azores regional assembly — expressed surprise at the Bloc's reaction. He claimed that "family connections are direct and abundant in [the Bloc's] parliamentary group,” alluding to the presence of two sisters in the party.

Socialist MEP Carlos Zorrinho said the opposition's focus on the scandal is a sign that things are going well in Portugal.

"When this is the big debate put forward by the opposition, it is a sign that other themes of society and economy are doing well," he told POLITICO. "The opposition is focused on this because it has no room for maneuver on other topics. What is important is that addressing this matter from a populist point of view should be avoided."

Yet scandal has shown no sign of going away. This week, even more family ties in the government came to light.

As reported by newspaper Correio da Manhã on Tuesday, Duarte Cordeiro — the secretary of state already under scrutiny for having hired the infrastructure minister's wife as his chief of staff — has now appointed the son of a Socialist lawmaker as his adviser.