Another indication of why PS Socialists are so sore…
Two months since it took charge, the government of the Democratic Alliance (AD) has ‘overtaken’ the former executive under António Costa and is considered ‘the best’ (of the two) by more than 50% of people questioned in a poll commissioned by tabloids Correio da Manhã and ‘Negocios’.
According to the sounding, the number of people who preferred the government under PS Socialists has dropped to 40%. That’s a fall of seven percentage points in relation to the month of May.
And when it comes to prime ministers themselves, the result is (already) a technical tie, with Luís Montenegro having a slight advantage over his predecessor (scoring 46.2% to Mr Costa’s 44%).
But that is possibly where the feelgood vibe stops. The majority of people queried “are convinced that this government won’t make it to the end of the legislature”, albeit there are varying levels of pessimism.
“Almost half agree that the government could last more than a year”, say results. But 22% think it will fall even before that (equally, 23.3% believe it could last the whole four year legislature…)
Bottom line is that the scenario of (another round of) early elections is still very much in evidence, albeit people taking part in the poll believe AD will survive the presentation of the 2025 State Budget (due in October/ final voting at the end of November).
And there is the ‘bonus’ (for AD) that people’s voting intentions favour the government (having risen 3.7 percentage points in relation to May, and being slightly higher than voting intentions favouring PS Socialists – 26.8% versus 24.6%).
This latest poll also shows that CHEGA’s ‘riding the crest of a wave’ may have peaked: voting intentions for the populist party have fallen to 14.6%.
All this will explain the increasing ‘sour grapes’ coming from PS and indeed CHEGA benches. Following yesterday’s blistering assessment by new MEP Ana Catarina Mendes, the PS parliamentary leader Alexandra Leitão has accused the government of being incapable of dialogue, but mouthing the words of dialogue. “Instead of presenting bills, they have adopted legislative authorisations. They want a blank cheque,” she accused, questioning whether the government intends to “continue presenting legislative authorisations instead of coming to parliament and presenting bills” – and whether it intends to “present the accounts” of the measures it has presented. (The PS focus remains on how much the party feels AD may be upsetting the last administration’s balanced accounts).
