Political leaders spend more time attacking each other than concentrating on policies
With just six days to go now until the elections ‘no one wants’, political leaders are in a fervour of activity, criticising each other much more than expounding on any solutions for the problems of the country.
Luís Montenegro, the current PM and running again under the AD coalition (PSD/CDS-PP), has been perhaps the least insulting of all the leaders, attempting to focus on what his party has already achieved in 11 complicated months of minority government. But his words keep being turned against him. Over the weekend, he described himself as ‘a beacon for the country, shining the way forwards for Portugal’ – and within hours LIVRE counterpart Rui Tavares had used the analogy to describe Montenegro as “a very weak beacon” with a “completely distorted moral compass” – once again trying to drag the spectre of the PM’s ‘family firm’ Spinumviva into the spotlight.
A beacon should guide the country in a direction of wanting to go further and in safety, but what Luís Montenegro has done, says Tavares, is “lower the bar for politics (…) From the outset, creating total confusion between what is the private sphere, the patrimonial sphere, the partisan sphere and the public sphere.”
Conflicts of interest must be caught and resolved at the outset, stressed the LIVRE spokesman.
“There is a company in his (Luís Montenegro’s) family sphere in which income from private companies for which Luís Montenegro worked and clients he attracted is still regularly deposited, I don’t understand what exactly Luís Montenegro can be…”
And thus the message that by voting for Luís Montenegro, people will be justifying ‘these types of behavior and lowering the bar for ethics in politics in Portugal’.
Elsewhere, the weekend saw secretary-general of the PS Socialist Party, Pedro Nuno Santos, continually claim that his party will win; that anyone who doesn’t want the AD government to win should vote Socialist; that AD has ‘lost its head’ and that its leader is ‘unrealistic’.
Mr Nuno Santos has shown a penchant for role-playing in this campaign: in Guarda he donned a traditional coat, and knocked down local ‘ginjinha’ in a bar; in Santo Tirso he was wearing a crash helmet and leathers and riding a motorcycle. The intention, it seems, is to be accepted by everyone – and thus be ‘everyone’s choice’.
André Ventura, the leader of CHEGA (Portugal’s third largest party and likely to remain so, even after the elections) has been learning that he certainly isn’t everyone’s choice. He complained over the weekend that he has received death threats – and he was greeted by a lot of abuse in Aveiro, Braga and Viana do Castelo from members of the area’s gypsy communities.
Ventura found the time, however, to also leap onto a motorbike in Portalegre and Castelo Branco, albeit as a pillion passenger.
The other leaders have been content to do things the ‘old fashioned way’: meeting people in the street and encouraging them to vote for their parties on Sunday.
PCP communist leader Paulo Raimundo has said his ambition is to restore the number of MPs on his benches to the six that they had in 2022 (now down to four), while PAN has surprised people hoping for ideas for Portugal’s problems by suggesting there should be health centres for animals.
Iniciativa Liberal’s leader Rui Rocha got the ‘fossil fuel lobby treatment’ in Lisbon on Sunday: this time not being squirted with wet paint, but showered with dry paint. It still ruined his jacket, which he says he will auction off for Associação Acreditar, an entity set up to help children with cancer. As for the two young people who climbed onto the stage and ensured his suit was ruined, yes, he says, he will be filing a complaint, but not for compensation (a reference to the compensation requested by Luís Montenegro when his suit was ruined in the run-up to the last elections).
Who knows what this week will bring, but the latest polls say very much what polls have always said about this third election in as many years: the chances of a government with a working majority are slim; AD is slightly ahead of PS Socialists, with all the other parties bringing up the rear in much the same order as they are now.
The ‘good news’ for voters is that the weekend at least should be lovely: clear skies and warm temperatures. As for the future, we will just have to wait and see as the exit polls start coming through late on Sunday night. ND
