President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has called Portuguese voters to early parliamentary elections for the end of January 2022.
Indeed, the country was in a political impasse by the rupture between the socialist government of Antonio Costa, the Socialist Prime Minister, and its former allies of the radical left, that is to say the left bloc of Catarina Martins and the Portuguese Communist Party of Jeronimo de Sousa. The reason being the rejection of the budget, which “totally reduced the government’s support base”, as specified by the President of the Republic. And during the next legislative elections in January 2022, the question of the budget will reappear, as indicated by our guest, the Portuguese journalist Ana Navarro Pedro.
Today, more than 85% of the Portuguese are vaccinated, thanks to the intervention of a vice-admiral, Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who carried out “drum beating” the vaccination campaign, like a military operation. Deputy in the planning service of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, and specialist in military communications, dressed in combat uniform, the vice-admiral was at the head of a “task force” which covered the country from vaccination centers. He was accompanied by soldiers, doctors, strategists and mathematicians, to lead the vaccination campaign. For more than 10 million inhabitants in Portugal, the Covid-19 situation is 1094 infected and 18,184 deaths, figures from Worldometers.
After the decision of the President of the Republic to announce the next legislative elections next January, so that Portugal can live the end-of-year celebrations serenely, we can say that the attitude of the Portuguese left has been suicidal.
After a successful vaccination campaign, a lifting of restrictions that brought a breath of fresh air in the population and sustained economic growth of 5.5%, this will be a third national election for Portugal in within a year. 2022 for Marcelo Rebelo from Sousa, will be “a decisive year for the sustainable exit from the pandemic and the social crisis that has hit us”.
Today, the situation in Portugal means that the socialist government of Antonio Costa, which was supported by a left-wing coalition in Parliament and this has exploded, thus causing the dissolution of the parliamentary assembly, the party of Antonio Costa remains well placed in the polls, a party that has no Socialist in name, because it is more center-left. But, the right-wing parties also have chances of winning the upcoming election. They are the democratic socialist party, however right-wing, of Rui Rio and the popular party of Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, a party representing the Portuguese “elite”, nostalgic for Salazarism, without forgetting the nationalist party Chega, of André Ventura , which could make the difference, which is why the other two right-wing parties have to reckon with.
The fact remains that if Antonio Costa’s Socialist Party wins the next legislative elections, it is difficult for him to count on his former allies in parliament who “brought down” his government. So all predictions are open for the next 12 weeks to come. This gives the Portuguese time to prepare for the holidays to come.