Portugal Socialists battle shift to the right in poll run-up
LISBON: Portuguese voters head to the polls next Sunday for early parliamentary elections whose outcome appears highly uncertain, with surveys pointing to an edge for the centre-right opposition that is looking to end eight years of Socialist rule.
But the populist Chega (“Enough”) party also appears set to cement its place in Portugal’s political landscape, which could signal the latest advance for farright parties on the continent just three months from European Parliament elections in June.
The elections were sparked by the surprise resignation last November of Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa after he was embroiled in a corruption inquiry over the awarding of energy-related contracts.
Chega chief Andre Ventura, a former TV sports commentator, has seized on the scandal to push his populist and antiestablishment message, and his party is credited with around 17 percent of the vote.
While that lags behind the 31 percent of voter intentions for the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD), according to a poll published Friday by Expresso magazine, the vote could make Chega a key player for passing legislation in the new parliament.
The Socialist party, meanwhile, is running neck-and-neck at 30 percent in the Expresso poll, which makes “a leftist majority appear very unlikely”, said Jose Santana Pereira, a political science professor at ISCTE university in Lisbon.
It would mark a brutal reversal for the Socialists, who secured an outright majority in the legislative elections just two years ago -- when the far-right Chega became the third-largest party.
Chega’s quick emergence since being formed in 2019 “follows the trend seen in other European countries”, Santana Pereira noted.
“Up until 2019, Portugal was seen as a sort of safe haven, spared by populism, but it was clearly just a matter of time before it arrived,” he said.
“The only thing missing was someone able to turn this into a convincing political project, and this person was Andre Ventura,” Santana Pereira said.
A series of scandals involving the governing Socialists “laid the groundwork” for populist attitudes to take root, casting a pall over Costa’s efforts to steady Portugal’s finances and oversee years of economic growth.
The final blow came when an inquiry into influence peddling reached Costa’s own chief of staff, who was found with 75,800 euros ($82,000) in cash hidden in his office.
Costa’s name was cited in the probe and he resigned in November, saying he would not seek a new term.