Country stands as ‘anticyclone’ to wave of right-wing extremism
Popular tabloid Correio da Manhã has summed up last night’s European election results with the headline: Portugal gives lesson of stability to Europe.
While in other countries (most notably France, Germany and Austria) have witnessed a surge in movements of right-wing extremism, “Portugal was the anticyclone”, explains CM’s opening paragraph: “parties of the centre polled the most votes and the more extremist parties, both left and right, were penalised”.
The new AD government technically came ‘second’ behind PS Socialists (whose leader crowed “The PS today is the leading political force in Portugal!”) but even that is questionable: global results show the country has moved firmly to the right – and no left-wing coalition could muster any kind of challenge.
Put another way, for AD and PS, the results of last night’s European elections mirror those very much of recent legislative elections; for right-wing CHEGA they most certainly do not.
CHEGA came in a very ‘lucky’ third place, behind PS and AD – but a very long way behind, and closely followed by right wing Iniciativa Liberal.
Abstention too was ‘elevated’: for all the positive spin of commentators (voting was touted as ‘increased on results in the 2019 elections’), over 63% of the country couldn’t be bothered to cast their vote/ or simply forgot – which again plays neatly into the government’s hands.
Expresso journalist and political commentator Ricardo Costa explains: “The results show there is no appetite at all in this country for new elections. The next State Budget (previously viewed as a potentially fatal obstacle for the minority AD government) needs to pass”. Indeed, Costa suggested that if it didn’t – if PS Socialists continued with the strategy of blocking government policy – fractures could open within the party as the majority of Socialist mayors are banking on a smooth passage for the next State Budget, as their own finances will depend on it.
As our ‘breaking news’ banner shows, the final results show PS Socialists taking 32.1% of the vote, and 8 MEPs to Brussels; AD with 31.1% and 7 MEPs: CHEGA with 9.8% and 2 MEPs; Iniciativa Liberal with 9.07%, also 2 MEPs and Bloco de Esquerda and CDU communists both with just over 4% of the vote, meaning they take 1 MEP each to Brussels.
PAN and LIVRE, arguably two political parties whose focus is frequently on the environment, both failed to must enough votes for any kind of representation in Europe, in line with the other signpost coming out of these elections: citizens are uninspired by the ‘green agenda’; the zeal to accelerate zero emissions, etc., is paling.
And echoing the words of Ricardo Costa on SIC Notícias last night, Correio da Manhã’s coverage today stresses that “AD did not win the elections, but the reading within the party is that the government gained important security, because neither the PS nor CHEGA will risk creating a political crisis that obliges the fall of the executive within the coming months. With the majority of votes cast to the right, the PS is a long way from reaching government – and CHEGA, which in (the) March (legislative elections) won an extraordinary electoral victory, yesterday suffered a setback… On the other hand, Iniciativa Liberal (…) was the great winner of yesterday’s elections.
“After eight years of Socialist hegemony which ended in March (…) the country has moved to the right.
“The left, which five years ago had an ample majority among Portuguese voters, has suffered huge erosion (…) AD, Iniciativa Liberal and CHEGA now have a comfortable majority”, while last night’s results also delivered the latter party, led by André Ventura, “a lesson in humility”.
Looking inwardly, the results could hardly have been better in terms of the message of ‘stability’ for Portugal as a country – particularly encouraging for the AD government. Looking further afield, however, Europe has some seriously ominous stormclouds gathering.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
