Two motions of rejection expected to fail
The second and last day of parliamentary debate on the incoming government’s programme opens with opposition parties declaring how they will vote.
Without approval of its programme, Portugal’s precariously placed government cannot move forwards with any of its intentions.
There are currently two motions of rejection ‘on the table’: PS Socialists and PAN have already ‘declared’ – the former abstaining, the latter voting against one, and abstaining over the other. So has LIVRE, which has said it will be voting in favour of both motions (lodged by the more radical left-wing parties, PCP communists and Bloco de Esquerda).
Yesterday’s acrimonious debate lasted nine relatively gruelling hours. Hopes clearly are that all the ‘theatre’ will lead to a grudging ‘approval’ of the programme, and AD’s work for “todos, todos, todos” (everyone in the country) can begin.
Speaking for the CDS arm of AD (the ‘democratic alliance’ of PSD/ CDS and independents), MP Paulo Núncio has condemned the motions of rejection, saying they have served to show “a mere competition between leninists and trotskyists for the leadership of Portugal’s extreme right”.
As for the oft-dubbed ‘extreme right’ (CHEGA), the party’s vote is expected to be against both motions of rejection, albeit leader André Ventura is seemingly doing his utmost to add to the sense of precarity within parliament.
