2023-10-01 19:10:01
The right-wing populists almost made it to Madeira. The Chega party hoped to participate in government for the first time in Portugal after the regional elections on September 24th. The bourgeois-conservative PSD ruled with an absolute majority on the Atlantic island until 2019, after which it formed a coalition with the right-wing CDS-PP. In the election, the previous alliance only won 23 of the 47 seats in the island’s parliament and needs another partner. The chairman of Chega (“It’s enough”), André Ventura, sensed an opportunity and was disappointed.
Ventura complained of “serious betrayal”: the center-right parties in Madeira are maintaining their firewall against his right-wing populists. Instead of Chega, they teamed up with the only MP from the left-wing animal protection party “People – Animals – Nature” (PAN). In return for toleration, the right-wing minority government on the holiday island must now reluctantly introduce a tourist tax and help tenants and pet owners. Four years ago, Chega caused a minor political sensation in the Azores when she helped a conservative minority government drive the Socialists, who had been in power since 1996, from power.
Right-wing populists are the third strongest force in Portugal
On the island group of Madeira, the party of the former football commentator Ventura, which was only founded in 2019, continued its winning streak. She increased the number of her voters from 619 to more than 12,000. With four MPs, it became the fourth strongest political force in the regional parliament in the island’s capital Funchal. The right-wing liberal populist “Iniciativa Liberal” (IL) received one seat. Chega and IL entered the national parliament for the first time in 2019. In the elections for the national parliament at the beginning of 2022, Chega received a good seven percent of the vote and the number of MPs grew from one to twelve. This made Chega the third strongest party and the IL the fourth strongest with eight mandates. Numerous PSD voters had migrated to both parties.
Chega wants to establish itself as a right-wing alternative to the PSD. According to surveys, if there were elections now, the right-wing populists could almost double their share of the vote. Only together with Chega would the conservatives have a chance of replacing Prime Minister António Costa’s Socialists (PS), who rule with an absolute majority. Unlike in neighboring Spain, where the conservative PP governs together with the right-wing populist Vox party in many town halls and several regions, the PSD chairman Luís Montenegro does not want to know anything about such cooperation – even though the Costa government is dealing with one scandal after the next stumbles and comes under increasing pressure.
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The parliamentary elections are not due until 2026, but the rise of the extreme right, which is seeking to profit from the great dissatisfaction with Costa’s government, could continue in the European elections in spring 2024. In September, Chega submitted the second motion of no confidence in just 14 months – and forced the PSD to show its political colors. Ventura portrayed the conservatives as accomplices of the “worst government.” The PSD abstained.
The scandal surrounding the TAP airline in particular has caused the socialist government to stumble. As soon as the summer holidays were over, the teachers went on strike again. The housing shortage has continued to worsen. The “Mais Habitação” (More Living Space) legislative package was intended to remedy the situation. It stipulates that licenses for holiday apartments will only be issued in rural areas. In addition, the “golden visa” will finally be abolished. But President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa initially submitted his veto, which he now wants to withdraw.
Many Portuguese have had enough because they are fighting for their survival. Tens of thousands demonstrated on Saturday in more than twenty cities with the slogan “A house to live in, a planet to live in” for affordable housing. Chega was also there on Saturday. However, three party MPs insulted the demonstrators as “fascists” and “racists”. The police had to bring them to safety, and Chega leader Ventura promised that “left-wing extremists” would not be able to silence his party.
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