Dear non-Portuguese speakers,
post | 11.07.2004 22:13 | Analysis | Globalisation | Social Struggles
Just so that you can understand what the fuss is all about. Two years ago we had an election. We have normal, democratic elections here.
Dear non-Portuguese speakers,
Just so that you can understand what the fuss is all about. Two years ago we had an election. We have normal, democratic elections here. The right-to-center PSD party won, but failed to achieve a majority of Parliamentary seats. They formed a coalition with the extreme-right PP party - something they hadn't even presented as a possibility to voters. The administration so far has been based on your standard neo-liberal and anti-social policies (no news there, but bad news nonetheless). About a month ago we had an election for the European Parliament. The coalition suffered the biggest defeat ever in the 30-year old history of Portuguese democracy and the left, obviously, won. A few days later, Prime-Minister Barroso was chosen to be the new President of the European Commission. He did not hesitate (other European PMs did, since they had electoral commitments to their constituencies) and took the job.
Now, the Portuguese Constitution says that the President can do two things in such circumstances: s/he can ask the majority party to nominate a new PM, or call for a new election. On the aftermath of Barroso's escape, PSD elected Santana Lopes, its vice-president, as their new president and potential PM. Thing is: Mr Lopes is Lisbon's mayor and a renowned populist and demagog free-lancer, very much in the style of the likes of Berlusconi in Italy. Polls indicated that the majority of the Portuguese people was for a new election, since Mr Lopes was not part of the package in the election two years ago (he isn't even an MP, and although we have a party system, people tend to vote based on specific PM candidates).
Now for the President: he belongs to the opposition left-to-center Socialist Party and we hoped he would call for a new election. Well, last night he told us he won't. 'For the sake of stability' he asked the PSD to name a new PM, knowing all along that it would be Mr Lopes. Now we will have a government led by this person in a close (actually enhanced) alliance with Paulo Portas, our local LePen avatar.
As a consequence of last night's bad news, Socialist Party leader Mr Ferro Rodrigues resigned. Portuguese President Sampaio simultaneously accomplished the feats of leading the extreme and populist right into government, of not consulting the people through an election, and of destroying his Socialist party (a probable consequence of Mr Rodrigues's resignation will be the election of some centrist drone...).
In our semi-presidential and semi-parliamentary system, the President is the last hope for maintainig democracy and its institutions. His obsession with an abstract notion of stability will lead us into true instability. We're sad, we're mad, and we want to be heard.
mva
http://valedealmeida.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_valedealmeida_archive.html#108948008736410541
Just so that you can understand what the fuss is all about. Two years ago we had an election. We have normal, democratic elections here. The right-to-center PSD party won, but failed to achieve a majority of Parliamentary seats. They formed a coalition with the extreme-right PP party - something they hadn't even presented as a possibility to voters. The administration so far has been based on your standard neo-liberal and anti-social policies (no news there, but bad news nonetheless). About a month ago we had an election for the European Parliament. The coalition suffered the biggest defeat ever in the 30-year old history of Portuguese democracy and the left, obviously, won. A few days later, Prime-Minister Barroso was chosen to be the new President of the European Commission. He did not hesitate (other European PMs did, since they had electoral commitments to their constituencies) and took the job.
Now, the Portuguese Constitution says that the President can do two things in such circumstances: s/he can ask the majority party to nominate a new PM, or call for a new election. On the aftermath of Barroso's escape, PSD elected Santana Lopes, its vice-president, as their new president and potential PM. Thing is: Mr Lopes is Lisbon's mayor and a renowned populist and demagog free-lancer, very much in the style of the likes of Berlusconi in Italy. Polls indicated that the majority of the Portuguese people was for a new election, since Mr Lopes was not part of the package in the election two years ago (he isn't even an MP, and although we have a party system, people tend to vote based on specific PM candidates).
Now for the President: he belongs to the opposition left-to-center Socialist Party and we hoped he would call for a new election. Well, last night he told us he won't. 'For the sake of stability' he asked the PSD to name a new PM, knowing all along that it would be Mr Lopes. Now we will have a government led by this person in a close (actually enhanced) alliance with Paulo Portas, our local LePen avatar.
As a consequence of last night's bad news, Socialist Party leader Mr Ferro Rodrigues resigned. Portuguese President Sampaio simultaneously accomplished the feats of leading the extreme and populist right into government, of not consulting the people through an election, and of destroying his Socialist party (a probable consequence of Mr Rodrigues's resignation will be the election of some centrist drone...).
In our semi-presidential and semi-parliamentary system, the President is the last hope for maintainig democracy and its institutions. His obsession with an abstract notion of stability will lead us into true instability. We're sad, we're mad, and we want to be heard.
mva
http://valedealmeida.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_valedealmeida_archive.html#108948008736410541
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