2023-11-11 01:18:07
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced that early legislative elections will take place on March 10, a deadline considered “unreasonable” for professor André Freire, at a time when polls cannot predict what will happen in four months. .
Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced on Thursday night that, given the resignation of the Prime Minister, allegedly involved in several cases of corruption, he opted to dissolve the Assembly of the Republic and call legislative elections for March 10th.
André Freire, Professor of Political Science at Iscte – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, said in an interview with RFI that this was the expected scenario, saying, however, that the country runs the risk of being on standby with elections just four months away.
“Shooting the elections for the 10th of March is an unreasonable deadline because the Constitution provides that after the dissolution decree, right after the 29th of November, right after the State Budget that brings some important measures for people such as the increase in salaries – and whoever comes next can make an amending budget – the President had 60 days, which was the end of January, now four months, is a lot. The country will be on standby”, warned the academic.
Until March 10th, it is difficult to make predictions about a possible winner, as the political scenario may change, especially with the new leadership of the PS, with José Luís Carneiro presenting his candidacy and Pedro Nuno Santos also being able to present his in the coming days, but the issue of corruption should tend to benefit the extreme right.
“We don’t know what will happen because the surveys so far don’t take these big changes into account. The changes with this succession of events that led to the prime minister’s resignation will have an impact on voters’ positions. But we don’t know in what sense. The issue of corruption is probably dear to the radical right and this could benefit Chega, but everything is open. Until now, the polls showed the PS and PSD tied. But these events tend to harm the Socialist Party”, concluded André Freire.
By Catarina Falcão
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