Recent scandals and social discontent have wiped out the popularity of the socialist government in Portugal just one year after achieving an absolute majority in the legislative elections. A crushing victory that few predicted on January 30, 2022 and which gave the Prime Minister, António Costa, the freedom to rule without depending on the left-wing parties, his former parliamentary partners. The apparent stability of the new legislature, however, has been less durable than expected and the polls point to a free fall of the Socialist Party, in the face of a right that recover ground.
A recent barometer of CNN Portugal points to a victory for the main opposition party, the Conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD), in hypothetical elections with 30.6% of the votes. The Socialist Party would get the 26.9% of the votesvery far from 41,3% achieved in the elections a year ago. Polls also show growth in two other right-wing forces, Liberal and Enough Initiative -the formation of the extreme right-, which would open the doors to a conservative coalition government in the event that early elections are held. This scenario, however, has been discarded for now by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Resignations and strikes
The decline in the popularity of the socialist government is largely due to the recent scandals and resignations of ministers and secretaries of state. In total, there have been 13 senior executive officers who have resigned in less than a year, including the Minister of Health, Marta Temidoand the Minister of Infrastructures, Pedro Nuno Santos. In the case of the former, it was the delicate situation in the emergency rooms of the main public hospitals that precipitated her fall, while Santos resigned after the controversial compensation received by a Secretary of State, also resigned, after leaving her post at the state airline TAPa company that has received billions of public funds.
The scandals and resignations in the Government are added to a social discontent increasing, driven by high inflation -an average of 7.8% in 2022- and by the loss of purchasing power of families. Public officials from various sectors have called strikes and demonstrations in recent months to ask for better working conditions and salary increases, among them teachers, who have maintained an intense pulse with the Executive since mid-December. The stops in the education sector They are causing the temporary closure of schools and have affected the daily lives of parents, who demand urgent solutions. But neither the teachers nor the Government seem willing to give in for now.
Economic management
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Faced with the attacks from the unions and the opposition, the Socialist Executive has tried to poke its chest out of its economic policywhich seeks to establish a difficult balance between reducing the deficit and public debt with aid packages for the classes hardest hit by the inflationary crisis. Aid that includes a check for 240 euros for nearly a million families or an increase in pensions to offset the rise in consumer prices. International organizations like the European Central BankHowever, they warn that they will have to be more surgical to avoid aggravating inflation even more.
Despite the crises in the Executive and the economic context, which foresees a sharp slowdown in growth this year, Costa has guaranteed that will remain in office until the end of the legislature, in 2026. “This legislature is not a 100-meter race, but a marathon. The muscles can hurt a lot, but I am here to reach the goal, ”said the prime minister at an event this weekend. The head of government trusts that the execution of the european recovery funds Give a new boost to the Portuguese economy and help relaunch the popularity of the Socialists in the next three years.