Portugal's politics and elections

[Mike88]

Had no idea there was early voting here, but I only could vote for the first time in the last local elections and didn't look much into it because they are barely important in comparison to the legislative ones.

Also, I don't see any signs of a growing extreme-right movement either. We have very few refugees in comparison to other EU countries, salaries and pensions are being raised, etc. Assuming past trends hold, the far-right PNR should get only about 0,8% of the vote.

Welcome to the forum! Nice to see another Portuguese poster around here, i assume.

Early voting always existed but it was always very strict: you had to be a student living far away from your polling area, working outside Portugal on election day, etc. After the changes to electoral law, in August 2018, and according to the CNE website, early voting will be allowed to all voters if they require it. But, after reading the law itself, i don't think this will work "US style", there will only be, at least, 29 polling stations across the country, at least one in each district capital, and there's no postal voting. I should have had wrote "a bit facilitated", however.

Thank God, we don't have, for now, any major right-wing movement, but, like i said in a post earlier, from Bigic, Portugal has many ingredients to fuel right-wing anti-system movements: corruption scandals, sleaze political practices, a badly funded welfare state, the list could go on. But, like your history shows us, voters in Portugal don't like to support extreme parties and prefer not showing up to vote instead. If the PCP didn't get good results in the first elections, and those were really extreme years, i doubt Portugal will have an extreme right-wing force in the near future. I hope i am right, but you never know. PNR is a joke party, don't take them seriously.

[Mike88]

Eurosondagem poll for the 2019 Madeira regional elections:

Vote share %: (compared with the July 2018 poll)

34.2% PSD (-2.1), 18 seats
33.9% PS (-1.8 ), 18
10.5% CDS (+3.4), 5
  6.5% JPP (+0.5), 3
  4.0% BE (+0.1), 2
  3.4% CDU (-1.4), 1
  1.6% PTP (+0.4), 0
  5.8% Others/Invalid (+0.8 )

[Mike88]

Political update:

Strikes, strikes and more strikes. The month of December hasn't reach its half and the country is seeing a big wave of strikes from hospitals to prisons. The 3 big strikes going on are the nurses strike, the prison guards strikes and the judges strike. The nurses strike, it started 2 weeks ago, has already cancelled 5,000 surgeries across the country, which affects particularly the big hospitals in Porto and Lisbon. The prison guards strike is the probably the most dangerous as it has motivated riots in Lisbon's main prison and in one of Porto' also. Because of the strike, prisoners are not being visited by their families and Christmas dinners will not be held this year. In Lisbon prison, a riot forced intervention police to shot rubber bullets against prisoners.  

The other big strike, the judges one, is basically stopping courts across the country. This strike is also accompanied by justice public workers, who are also on strike. But another big strike is in the making. Professional firefighters will go on strike during Christmas and New years eve, while volunteer firefighter associations have cut all ties with the government, after the negotiations between both sides failed. The interior minister has called the volunteer firefighters action as "irresponsible". The good news is that the strike in Setúbal harbour seems to be almost over, as the the Sea minister reports that there is an agreement between unions and the harbour's administration.

Parliament is also in the headlines for bad reasons, again. Last week, the Audit Office published a report trashing the way Parliament works. The report revealed that MPs have committed fraud by using fake, or other, house addresses to pay for expenses and trips, and have been using an illegal health insurance, as the law says it's illegal for public institutions to finance private insurance companies. Parties didn't like the way the Audit Office made the report and accuse the office of surpassing its competences. The PS was the party that most attacked the report. It seems, also, that the Speaker of Parliament, Ferro Rodrigues, tried to control the damages the report is doing to Parliament's image.

The fake presences scandals is, also, still ongoing. Last week, it was revealed that another PSD MP was caught signing the presence of a PSD MP that wasn't in Parliament. The PSD MP in question, Mercês Borges, announced she would be resigning all positions in Parliament committees, but would continue as a MP. This case, motivated a heated exchange of words between PS and PSD. Carlos César, PS caucus leader, attacked the PSD saying that PS MPs that sign other MPs presences would be booted out of the PS caucus. The PSD responded to this, saying Mr César has no moral to talk because he's implicated in the paid MPs paid trips fraud, that is currently being investigated by the DA office.

There were also changes in Parliament seating, last week. The PS lost an MP, Paulo Trigo Pereira, who will continue in parliament but as a "non-attached member". Also, a PSD MP announced he would leave Parliament, but he will be replaced by another PSD member.

[VPH]

I feel like I saw something on the news in passing about the ethics committee in Parliament not really dealing with complaints and potential conflicts of interest

[Mike88]

I feel like I saw something on the news in passing about the ethics committee in Parliament not really dealing with complaints and potential conflicts of interest

Maybe it was this: "In seven years no incompatibilities have been found in MPs." The original story is from Diário de Notícias (DN), where they report that in 7 years, the ethics subcommittee was called 52 times to analyze incompatibilities in MPs and found nothing, of course. To read the full report in DN you have to be registered or pay a monthly fee of 1 euro.

[Mike88]

Madeira politics has had quite a week:

Politics in Madeira has always been, let's say, colorful, and this week, it was no exception. Earlier this week, it was revealed that a PSD MP of the Madeira Parliament refused to stop in a police operation, tried to run over a police officer, which forced the officer to use his gun to shot to the air in order to scare the PSD politician, but he, nonetheless escaped. He was later caught by the police and accused a BAC of 1,87 g/l, the maximum allowed is 0,5 g/l. The news broke as the regional Parliament was voting the 2019 budget and the arrival of the PSD MP infuriated the President of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque. Reporters and TV cameras were able to see Albuquerque repressing the PSD MP in public.

And then there was this. A PS MP, also from the Madeira Parliament, is involved in a sex scandal after a video was released showing him talking to a woman, via Skype, and then touching himself by the woman's request. The video was posted on social media by someone that the PS MP believes is from within the PS, and that wants to bring him down. Nonetheless, this scandal seems to be damaging the party, as one historic figure of the party will leave the party because of this and the PS regional caucus are refusing to talk about this scandal.

[Mike88]

Police in full alert as they believe a Portuguese version of the "yellow vest" protests are very likely to happen next week:

The Portuguese police (PSP) has called off days off for many police officers due to the possibility of mass protests of "yellow vests" next Friday, 21 December. More than 20,000 police officers will be on alert. Many protests, to recreate the French "yellow vests" protests, have been called, on social media, against the government's policies on taxes and others, and although there are many people saying they will go, it's still unclear who will show up. The organization of these protests, seems, to be backed by right-wing movements but the police thinks that this is no joke and that there will probably be mass protests and roadblocks on 21 December. Trucks drivers organizations will decide, this weekend, if they join the protest or not.

I still think nothing will happen, but the fact the police is very worried about this, is really amazing. We'll see.

[Mike88]

New basic Health law: Costa, allegedly, forced the Health minister to change the new basic health law to please private corporations and the PSD:

The new basic Health law is creating some controversy. For the 1st time in 28 years, the government would approve a new basic health law, which would clearly lay out the ways health services would be given in Portugal, but divisions in the government are creating controversy. A task force, headed by former PS Health minister Maria de Belém, wrote a draft law bill that the current health minister, Marta Temido, didn't liked and wanted to change almost everything. According to Expresso newspaper, Ms Temido wanted much less private corporations, and also social corporations, involved in the Health services and presented the idea to the PM António Costa. Costa said no to his minister and forced her to include private corporations in Health services in order to please the PSD.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has also reacted to the controversy saying he will only approve a new health bill with the broad support of Parliament, meaning a bill with the support of PS and PSD, and, perhaps, CDS.

Reactions from the right were, somewhat, similar. CDS said it would present an alternative bill, but is willing to negotiate in Parliament for everyone to see. PSD is also willing to negotiate with the government but is very critical of the ideological basis of the basic health bill the minister of health. PSD present, last summer, a health reform proposal in which the NHS would coexist with the private and social sectors.

[Mike88]

Socialist Youth (JS) elects Maria Begonha as their new leader, amid deep controversy:

The 21st congress of the Socialist Youth (JS) happened this weekend and it was surrounded by controversy. The only candidate in the ballot, Maria Begonha, is accused of forging her CV and many JS members tried to suspend the congress in protest against Ms Begonha. These suspension actions were denied by the congress chair, but the DA office has already opened an inquiry regarding Ms Begonha forge of her CV. If the DA founds solid proof of her forgery, she could face criminal charges.

Nonetheless, Maria Begonha was elected with 72% of the votes, 28% votes invalid, and will be the 13rd leader of the Socialist Youth. The congress didn't have the presence of the PM António Costa, as he is in Kabul, Afghanistan, visiting Portuguese troops there. But, high ranking PS members where present in the JS congress like Pedro Nuno Santos, one of the strongest candidate to succeed Costa in the PS leadership, who said that Maria Begonha didn't lied and that he believes in her.

With the election of Ms Begonha, for the 1st time ever, the two main political youth organizations in Portugal, Socialist Youth (JS) and the Social Democratic Youth (JSD), are both led by women at the same time.

[Mike88]

Aximage poll from December:

Vote share %:

37.0% PS (-0.8 )
24.7% PSD (-1.7)
10.0% BE (+0.9)
  8.7% CDS (+1.0)
  6.3% CDU (+0.1)
  9.9% Others/Invalid (+0.2)
  3.5% Undecided (+0.4)

Popularity ratings: (in a scale between 0 and 20)

10.6 Catarina Martins (-0.5)
10.0 Jerónimo de Sousa (-0.4)
  9.7 António Costa (-0.9)
  8.1 Assunção Cristas (-0.4)
  6.4 Rui Rio (-0.5)

Preferred PM:

55.3% António Costa (+1.8 )
28.1% Rui Rio (-2.2)
15.3% Neither (+0.2)

Other questions polled:

Q1: How do you rate Costa's government so far?

47.3% Normal, as expected
29.6% Very good, above expectations
22.7% Very bad, bellow expectations
  0.4% Undecided

Q2: If in Portugal, a new party to speak out against illegal immigrants and against corruption emerged, would you change your current voting intentions?

63.1% No
27.0% Yes/Maybe
  9.9% Undecided

Poll conducted between 7 and 11 December 2018. Polled 602 voters. MoE of 4.00%

[Mike88]

Political update:

The week has been dominated by a some controversies, being the main one the controversial judicial reform of the PSD, or mainly, Rui Rio. The PSD proposal for the judicial system has many policies but the most controversial seems to be the idea to eliminate the majority of magistrates in the Higher Council of the DA office and in the Magistrate Higher Council, and fill those seats with people from society in general, in order to have their say in the justice system and to prevent corporate interests. That's Rio's idea. But almost everybody in the judicial/justice system hates it and accuse Rio of trying to control the justice system. The current attorney-general (AG), Lucília Gago, has said that if these proposals go ahead, she would resign as AG. The proposal had the approval of the PS that, alongside the PSD, defended the idea in the beginning but dropped their support when it became too controversial.

Only Rui Rio is defending his idea, currently. Rio has gone to twitter to accuse the attorney-general of trying to block Parliament by doing "unacceptable pressures":

https://twitter.com/RuiRioPSD/status/1074987753241305088

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Strikes have also continued. But, the minister of Health, Marta Temido, is in hot waters after calling nurses, who are on strike for weeks now and have led to the cancellation of more the 6,000 surgeries across the country, as criminals during an interview to a radio show. During the interview, she said that it wouldn't be correct to continue negotiations with nurses unions who aren't on strike and, at the same time, with unions on strike as that would benefit the criminals. This created a huge uproar in nurses and the minister had to retract herself and apologize to nurses unions and the nurses bar association.

The other controversy is, again, about the fake presences in Parliament as it has been revealed that a PS MP was caught visiting a factory in Famalicão, 215 miles from Lisbon, while his name was signed as present, at the same day, in Parliament. The MP says that it was him the signed present in Parliament but that TV cameras didn't capture the moment. The MP has assured the PS caucus he did signed his presence in Parliament and Carlos César, PS caucus leader, has accepted his statements. If it is proven that he is lying, he could be expelled from the PS caucus.  

And finally, the Bank of Portugal has presented a more darker outlook for the Portuguese economy as they predict the economy will deteriorate year after year until 2021. The economic forecast is the following:

2018: 2.1%
2019: 1.8%
2020: 1.7%
2021: 1.6%

According to the Bank, exports and public consumption will decrease and will hurt the economy. But not all is bad, as unemployment is predicted to drop to 5.3% by 2021.

[Farmlands]

Feels like I am watching Germany's SPD here, how low can one of the main centre establishment parties go? I don't even have any idea why people dislike Rui Rio so much, I wouldn't vote for him because of political ideology, but I can't see why long-time right wing voters would not either.

[Mike88]

Feels like I am watching Germany's SPD here, how low can one of the main centre establishment parties go? I don't even have any idea why people dislike Rui Rio so much, I wouldn't vote for him because of political ideology, but I can't see why long-time right wing voters would not either.

By distributing undecideds, the PSD goes to almost 26% and if you add MoE to the math, they can get to around 27/28% and that's, basically, the core base of PSD voters, around 1,5 million voters. Right now, i believe PSD voters are demobilized and demoralized as they see their leader not being very strong and decisive and are just waiting to see how bad the 2019 results will be, to then elect the next person in line, maybe Luís Montenegro or Carlos Moedas. And fun fact, the PSD numbers, 10 years ago, were basically the same: in December 2008, in Aximage polls, the PSD was polling at 25.9% and they dropped to 23% in January 2009. We'll see how the January numbers will be. I wouldn't compare the PSD to the German SPD. If the PSD was polling at 15%, Rio wouldn't last one more second as party leader.

Many right-wing voters don't like Rio because he made the ultimate betray, according to them, of talking to Costa and willing to move the PSD more to the center. Like the complete and total opposition of Passos Coelho was working... yeah. The situation in the PSD seems like, over and over again, a rewind of an old film that we already know the end. The current situation is a copypast of what happened in 2008/2009 and 1998/1999.

[Mike88]

Yellow Jackets flop in Portugal:

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It wasn't just a huge flop, it was also a hilarious, and sometimes, ridiculous protest. 7 or 8 people running around roads just to block them for a few seconds. There were some moments of tension with the police, but, overall, it was a huge, HUGE fiasco. Like the saying goes, the mountain gave birth to a mouse.

Some videos and reports:

https://sicnoticias.sapo.pt/pais/2018-12-21-Imagens-de-drone-mostram-manifestantes-a-bloquear-a-circulacao-no-Marques-de-Pombal

https://expresso.pt/sociedade/2018-12-21-Coletes-amarelos-cinco-sinais-de-que-isto-iria-ser-um-flop--e-foi-mesmo-#gs.2cHWRSg

[Farmlands]

Yes, it was kind of embarrassing to watch the news reports about the movement, specially given the contrast between what the media predicted could happen and the actual day of the manifestation. But should it really be such a surprise, when they simply co-opted the movement from France, without a clear message to back it up and the leader of the nationalist party joining the protests?

[Mike88]

2018 in opinion polls: (Aximage poll graphics)



Basically no changes during the whole year. PS holding on to a strong lead, but with ups and downs; PSD steady until the summer, then got way down to around 25%. BE steady until, also, the summer but, since then, in a tight race for 3rd place with CDS, which is gaining some votes from PSD. CDU started the year at 7% but ends at one of the lowest numbers in their history.

So, how will 2019 be? How will the Alliance poll and can the PSD recover? Will the PS hold on to their strong lead? Who will poll at 3rd place: BE or CDS; and will CDU recover? A lot to watch in the critical election year of 2019.

[Former President tack50]

Since a PS-PSD coalition is pretty much impossible, I assume a better way of looking at it might be through "blocks" (ie PS-BE-CDU vs PSD-CDS). In that case the current government would be headed for a landslide (something like 54-37 by the looks of it).

They should still fall short of any supermajority thresholds Portugal has for changing the constitution unilaterally (I assume it's either 3/5 or 2/3, plus probably a referendum)

[crals]

I guess there just isn't much reason to trust PSD over PS at this point (and some not to do so, with the infighting and occasional bipolarity). If you want the public finances in order PS is succeeding at that and if you think there's still too much austerity you won't be voting for the right anyway. They're also stuck between a rock and a hard place on what opposition strategy to pursue, courting PS is costing them votes to CDS but a blind opposition to the government like Passos Coelho attempted was perceived as irresponsible and was costing them even more. In the end they will bounce back once the current government becomes unpopular anyway.

Since a PS-PSD coalition is pretty much impossible, I assume a better way of looking at it might be through "blocks" (ie PS-BE-CDU vs PSD-CDS). In that case the current government would be headed for a landslide (something like 54-37 by the looks of it).

They should still fall short of any supermajority thresholds Portugal has for changing the constitution unilaterally (I assume it's either 3/5 or 2/3, plus probably a referendum)

Even if the left had a 2/3 majority I don't think PS would dare to change the Constitution without PSD. The optics would be very bad.

[Mike88]

I guess there just isn't much reason to trust PSD over PS at this point (and some not to do so, with the infighting and occasional bipolarity). If you want the public finances in order PS is succeeding at that and if you think there's still too much austerity you won't be voting for the right anyway. They're also stuck between a rock and a hard place on what opposition strategy to pursue, courting PS is costing them votes to CDS but a blind opposition to the government like Passos Coelho attempted was perceived as irresponsible and was costing them even more. In the end they will bounce back once the current government becomes unpopular anyway.

Since a PS-PSD coalition is pretty much impossible, I assume a better way of looking at it might be through "blocks" (ie PS-BE-CDU vs PSD-CDS). In that case the current government would be headed for a landslide (something like 54-37 by the looks of it).

They should still fall short of any supermajority thresholds Portugal has for changing the constitution unilaterally (I assume it's either 3/5 or 2/3, plus probably a referendum)

Even if the left had a 2/3 majority I don't think PS would dare to change the Constitution without PSD. The optics would be very bad.

Exactly. Unless you are a PSD regular voter, like me, there aren't many reasons to vote PSD, as the PS is persuing many policies the PSD would normally persue: being fiscally conservative, a budget surplus, etc. But it's quite interesting that the PSD hasn't learn a thing from Guterres and Sócrates, as they governed, basically, the same way Costa is governing right now. But, what can you do. Nonetheless, i believe turnout will be crucial for the PS chances of a strong victory. The many strikes and public preception that Costa isn't able to handle the expectations of many, may leave some left-wing voters at home or to vote BE or CDU insted of PS. And, also, a demoralized center-right electorate could also stay home on election day and, against odds, help the PS chances.

About the 2/3 majority, PS's interests are much more aligned with the PSD rather than BE and CDU. On the most basic political/economic stuff, PS doesn't agree with BE and CDU on almost anything.

[Mike88]

Political update:

The last few days of 2018 were dominated by the reactions to Costa's Christmas message, Marcelo' veto to the government's teachers career bill and, to some extent, the PSD health/teachers proposals and their twitter feud between some party members.

First, the PM's Christmas message. In his message on Christmas day, Costa talked about the future and layout his vision for Portugal in 2019: a budget surplus, higher wages, the return of many young people to Portugal and to create a more equal country. He added that not everything is done and that there's still a lot to do. The media reaction to Costa's message wasn't very positive. Many compared it to the Miss Universe speeches in which everybody dreams of a perfect world but, know, it's very hard to achieve. Party reactions, on the contrary, were very predictable.


António Costa during his Christmas message.

PS hailed Costa saying he was "serene, realistic and humble" and agree that a lot is still to be done to increase the quality of life of the Portuguese people. BE agrees with some parts of Costa's message but didn't liked that Costa used the same language the PSD/CDS used in 2014/2015 about the risks of going backwards. PCP says that Costa's message is completely different from his own government actions, as they say the PS minority persues many PSD policies. PSD and CDS, as expected, trashed completely Costa saying he lives in a fantasy world. PSD says the PM's message is full of contradictions, as the current government is destroying the NHS, raising taxes and forgeting the rest of the country outside Porto and Lisbon. CDS made similar attacks to Costa adding that they are the only real alternative to the PS, a clear slam to the PSD.

Then, there was the President's veto to the government's teachers career bill. Last Wednesday, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, vetoed the bill that would allow teachers to regain only 2 years of frozen career and wage progressions, against the wishes of unions that wanted the full 9 years of frozen progressions. The President put more pressure on the government after Parliament also forced the government to restart negotiations with teacher unions. All parties, expect the PS, hailed the President's veto. The PSD is planning to present a proposal in Parliament to solve the teachers issue. Some MPs want teachers to regain their career progressions during two Parliamentary terms, a similar proposal that was agreed between the PSD led regional government in Madeira and teachers unions in Madeira. In Azores, the PS led regional government has also reached an agreement with unions in the same basis.


Rui Rio, PSD leader. PSD is planning proposals for the health and schools sector.

The PSD is also planning to present an alternative basic health law to the PS minority one. In the PSD plan, according to the media, funding to the NHS hospitals will depend on the quality of health and service to patients. The party wants to reward hospitals that give A+ health services and want to introduce an element of competition between hospitals to increase quality of services. The party will also introduce the figure of "informal caretaker" in their health plan that was abandoned by the government.

And continuing with the PSD, the internal feuds have passed from the public eye to social media. During this weekend a twitter feud between a former PSD MP, the vice-president of the party and a distrital party chair made news. Former PSD MP Luís Campos Ferreira did an interview to Expresso newspaper saying that if Rio is really this clumsy, then he shouldn't be candidate for the PM position. Of course, these remarks didn't go well in Rio's team. Rio's VP, Salvador Malheiro, the man who currently controls the party machine and acts like Rio's attack dog mainly on twitter, attacked Mr Campos Ferreira saying that he is the one who is clumsy and thanked him for making a precious service to the Socialists. Mr Malheiro also criticized MPs who can't win elections in their home turf. This wasn't well received by the PSD-Setúbal party chair that asked if he was also clumsy because he doesn't win elections in Setúbal. He then asked Mr Malheiro to retract his statement or resign. Just another normal day in the PSD.

[Mike88]

Interview of far-right activist in the highest ranking TV network is creating a huge controversy:


Interview of Mário Machado, in the center, on TVI.

Last Thursday, TVI, the highest ranking TV network in Portugal with around 20% viewing share per day, did an interview with Mário Machado, a far-right activist and leader that was arrested in 1995 for being involved in the killing a black man in Lisbon. He and the group of skinheads he was part of, were convicted to several years in jail. During the interview, Mr Machado made the controversial statement that "Portugal needs a new Salazar", which created a huge backlash on social media and in the media as a whole. Many pundits, and other media outlets, criticized TVI for giving airtime for the far-right. Reporters unions and anti-racism associations have, also, violently criticized TVI and have filed complaints against TVI to the media regulator.

TVI is defending themselves saying that debates between many different opinions are part of a democratic society. But the controversy has reached the government as the Defense minister, João Cravinho, has compared TVI with incendiaries in a twitter post:

https://twitter.com/JoaoCravinho/status/1081142541456736257

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At the same time this is happening, it seems that TVI has deleted the clips of the interview from their website, and one of the reports of the interview, Bruno Caetano, has said he received death threats and has deleted his social media profiles.

[Josecardoso17]

Interview of far-right activist in the highest ranking TV network is creating a huge controversy:


Interview of Mário Machado, in the center, on TVI.

Last Thursday, TVI, the highest ranking TV network in Portugal with around 20% viewing share per day, did an interview with Mário Machado, a far-right activist and leader that was arrested in 1995 for being involved in the killing a black man in Lisbon. He and the group of skinheads he was part of, were convicted to several years in jail. During the interview, Mr Machado made the controversial statement that "Portugal needs a new Salazar", which created a huge backlash on social media and in the media as a whole. Many pundits, and other media outlets, criticized TVI for giving airtime for the far-right. Reporters unions and anti-racism associations have, also, violently criticized TVI and have filed complaints against TVI to the media regulator.

TVI is defending themselves saying that debates between many different opinions are part of a democratic society. But the controversy has reached the government as the Defense minister, João Cravinho, has compared TVI with incendiaries in a twitter post:

https://twitter.com/JoaoCravinho/status/1081142541456736257

You must be logged in to read this quote.

At the same time this is happening, it seems that TVI has deleted the clips of the interview from their website, and one of the reports of the interview, Bruno Caetano, has said he received death threats and has deleted his social media profiles.

I think TVI is becoming a TV network always looking for controversy .Even José Eduardo Moniz ,that now is the host of program of his own,uses his airtime to criticize only what is more convenient to him.Everyone knows that José Eduardo Moniz is Vice President of Benfica ,but in his program ,despite controversy in the club,he never even mentions anything about it.Same goes with him not being neutral with is political criticism .
Now this thing with Machado....
And TVI will not even apologize about this incident ,mark my words....

[Mike88]

I think TVI is becoming a TV network always looking for controversy .Even José Eduardo Moniz ,that now is the host of program of his own,uses his airtime to criticize only what is more convenient to him.Everyone knows that José Eduardo Moniz is Vice President of Benfica ,but in his program ,despite controversy in the club,he never even mentions anything about it.Same goes with him not being neutral with is political criticism .
Now this thing with Machado....
And TVI will not even apologize about this incident ,mark my words....

TVI is all about ratings, ratings. They need something new and over the top to compete, daily, with CMTV, otherwise they are toasted. Don't forget that occasionally CMTV almost ties with RTP1 in the ratings. The main headline of all of this, is how political it became with even ministers speaking against TVI. About Moniz, there's nothing more to say. His club has a new criminal investigation almost every week and he's main worry is the excess of homeworks on children? Ok... Plus, the Mário Machado interview was also clearly an attack to SIC and its new millionaire acquisition, Cristina Ferreira, to gain momentum and steal viewers from them. That's my take, at least.

TVI is already making a bit of damage control. The videos of the interview have been deleted and the network has ended that segment in its morning show.

[Mike88]

Tensions are back in the PSD:

Tensions in the PSD are back in the spotlight. This time is Luís Montenegro, the main opponent of Rio in the party, that is on the verge or making a huge flipflop on his leadership plans: insted of running after the 2019 elections, he is considering to oust Rio in the few weeks. All of this escalated when Manuela Ferreira Leite, former PSD leader, said she would prefer a PSD with a really bad result than being aligned with the right. This prompted Luís Montenegro to say that the PSD can't go on like this and will make a major statement in the next few days. This is making many pundits suggest that Rio could be ousted from the leadership, but, still, it's a bit of a longshot. The process could be long and complex and drag the party into a leadership contest just weeks before the EP election.


Will Rio be ousted from the PSD leadership?

Ferreira Leite remarks were just the bait, it seems. Earlier this week, Público newspapers published a report that said that many PSD district leaders met secretly and want to oust Rio. It seems that the news was sent to Público by "conspirators" in the PSD that support Mr Montenegro. Next week, there will be a council meeting of the PSD, where both sides will be in the same room together and where is expected some clarification.

But, Rui Rio seems unimpressed by all of this and isn't worried. In a press conference, today, he criticized the government's plan to reduce students fees or, in the future, eliminate them, he also criticized the government's plan for investments and announced the date of the PSD convention where the party will discuss ideas and strategies for their electoral manifesto. He also announced that the party will start preparing for the EP elections, with the selection of list members and campaign organization. It's still unclear, however, if Rio's opposition has the numbers to ditch him. Some say that removing Rio from the leadership now could save the party from election disaster in the upcoming elections, while others argue that this could be a risk for party unity just months before crucial elections. We'll see the next episodes in the "mexican soap opera" called PSD.

[mileslunn]

How come Portugal is the only country or one of the few that social democracy seems to be in reasonably good shape, not collapsing?  Anything the Socialist party doing differently than other social democratic parties in Europe or is it due to unique circumstances in Portugal.