Praising the President of the Republic for having received right to housing protesters yesterday, former Socialist parliamentary speaker, Augusto Santos Silva, has added further oxygen to sentiments that the next legislative elections could come much sooner than intended.
The minority government’s mandate runs until 2029, but pundits now are pointing to too many issues having worn it down.
This is what former parliamentary speaker Augusto Santos Silva has cited today: the “level of wear and tear on the government”, that spends so much time ‘putting out political fires’.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the PS’s new General Assembly, Santos Silva said his own party is in an “accelerated process of preparation”.
“We do not have a pressing electoral timetable and it is good that we do not. The country does not need four legislative elections in four or five years, but it is starting to be time to look ahead to preparing what will be the electoral programme that the PS will present at the next legislative elections, whether they are held in 2029 or earlier”, he said.
Asked whether he thinks the legislative elections could be brought forward, the former Speaker said: “I think they could be (…) because the level of wear and tear that the government is showing, and the level of complicity and concessions that the center-right and the radical right unfortunately have in parliament today do not bode well for the current political situation”.
Regarding housing demonstrations which have returned to towns and cities all over Portugal, Santos Silva admitted that if he were not at the General Assembly today he would have joined the protests in Porto.
“These people have to be heard and they deserve not police charges, but to be listened to. The President of the Republic did very well to receive them yesterday. (…) I hope the government also shows the same willingness to listen”, he said.
Regarding the announcement by the mayor of Oeiras, Isaltino Morais, that he intends to create a new party, the former minister considered that this is a premise that “is enshrined in the Constitution”, saying he felt “no concern because of” this announcement.
“If there is one thing the PS is, it is a very big home, big in the sense of being diverse, which today welcomes people who identify with democratic socialism, social democracy, Christian democracy itself, left-wing liberals. We are a very vibrant, very diverse family, and one that welcomes everyone”.
Asked whether a new party – which Isaltino Morais has said should ‘fill the space between PS and PSD’ – could hurt the Socialists at the ballot box, Santos Silva said of parties that “it is harder to create them than to say you are going to create them…”
Adding his voice to the call that the government ditch its current proposal to amend the rent law, the former Speaker also highlighted ‘public policies that were pursued with clear objectives at the appropriate time, which now have to be reversed because their objectives have been achieved’ (…)
“I am talking about short-term rental policies, policies supporting the taxation of non-habitual residents, golden visas: they had their time, but today they have to be reversed, because today they place enormous pressure that overheats the housing market, both the sales market and the rental market, to the detriment of thousands and thousands of people”.
Isaltino Morais’ ‘new party’
Very much a political bon vivant, 76-year-old Morais has given an interview to Expresso in which he explained how the current PSD (of which he is a member) is no longer his party, it has gone too much to the right. He wants to create a political movement to occupy the space between the PS and the PSD, he said – one that can halt the growth of CHEGA.
The new political force – to be called ‘Fazemos’ – will focus on a modern, pragmatic and reformist social democracy.
“We do. Doing is what Portugal needs. But it needs to be done well. It’s not enough to do it any old way,” said the three time mayor of Oeiras.
At 76, Isaltino Morais will be one of the driving forces behind the project, which is expected to include people from different political backgrounds.
The new party has the 2029 legislative and local elections in its sights – but if Santos Silva’s hunch is right, it may find it is canvassing on the streets before 2029.
Source material: SIC Notícias/ Expresso
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