Voters in the Algarve are “tired of unfulfilled promises”
CHEGA’s victory in the Algarve in last weekend’s legislative elections is being attributed to growing frustration with how successive governments have “forgotten” about the region.
“It seems reasonable to me to think that people mobilised to vote for CHEGA not out of conviction, but simply to show their deep disappointment with the vision that the central government has had for the Algarve,” economist Luís Serra Coelho has told Lusa news agency.
A professor of Finance at the Faculty of Economy at the University of Algarve, Serra Coelho cited the “set of promises made throughout the years by successive governments that have gone unfulfilled,” from vows to improve public health services in the Algarve to the consecutive delays in the construction of the Algarve Central Hospital.
The central government’s failure to prepare the Algarve for longer periods of drought is also believed to have played a role in CHEGA’s monumental rise.
“The truth is that there are many plans, many millions and many visits from ministers and other important people, and yet we risk in 2024, or possibly 2025, having no water in the Algarve to supply the urban cycle,” Serra Coelho lamented.
Another source of discontent stems from the “paradox” of the region’s “economic dynamic”, which despite contributing significantly to Portugal’s GDP has high rates of poverty, the economist said.
Last but not least is CHEGA’s willingness to discuss matters such as immigration, which “nobody likes to talk about” and which has creating a “feeling of discomfort” among portions of local citizens.
A similar explanation for CHEGA’s Algarve victory has been provided by Cristóvão Norte, who will be returning to Parliament to represent the Algarve for Aliança Democrática (the coalition comprising PSD, CDS-PP and PPM).
“Many question themselves about the reasons behind this outcome. From my point of view, there are three fundamental reasons,” Norte wrote on his Facebook page.
Number one on his list are the forgotten promises made by several government in the last 20 years. “Their words have not been honoured. Just look at the disgraced processes of the new Central Hospital, the Foupana dam, the EN125 renovations, among others. The Algarve is famous in the summer and an unknown entity in the winter. It gives much more than it receives,” the MP said.
“This generates disbelief and a rejection of political forces with a tradition of governing responsibilities. It is not by chance that more vocal parties, such as CHEGA, BE or PAN, registered their best results in the region. These are votes of people who are tired, who no longer believe and no longer tolerate promises,” he wrote.
Norte also believes the Algarve is experiencing an “economic and social schizophrenia,” with the region having seen its economy shrink by 16% during the Covid-19 pandemic as opposed to the national economy, which fell 8%. In his view, the Algarve needs a “more resistant and balanced economy.”
The other reason singled out for CHEGA’s victory is the “perception of insecurity” that has been growing in the Algarve, although data shows that “there is no link between immigration and criminality in the region. But that perception does exist. And it shapes people,” Norte said.
“Immigrants are essential and the region’s economy would not work any other way, but they are often left to their own devices, with no integration mechanisms to guarantee dignity and integrate them in the communities where they live. The problem cannot continue being ignored. Speaking of immigration is not shameful, it is a duty, with responsibility and solutions, without motivating the fear of those who are culturally different. The Algarve has always been a place of arrival and departure and our history over the centuries intertwines with other peoples,” he added.
CHEGA received 27.19% of the votes in the Algarve in last Sunday’s election, beating Portugal’s Socialist Party, PS (25.46%) and the Aliança Democrática (AD) coalition (22.39%).
