Portugal's politics and elections

[DavidB.]

Welcome to the forum, Mike88! We had a thread on Portugal in the past, but it accidentally got deleted on election day.

Most recent poll (September 12, Aximage):

PS: 40%
PSD: 30%
BE: 11%
CDU: 7%
CDS: 5%

How is the mood in Portugal? It seems the government is rather popular, judging by the downward trend of PSD and the upward trend of PS and BE?

[DavidB.]

Thank you. I was also wondering what kind of arrangement PS, BE and CDU have. Is there much coordination about government policy between the three parties, or is their agreement fairly loose and does PS mostly get to decide things by itself? Is there a written agreement/declaration on policies?

[DavidB.]

Very interesting, thanks for all this, Mike!

[DavidB.]

How do you vote, if I may ask?

[DavidB.]

Thanks for all these updates, Mike. I have little to add, but read them all.

[DavidB.]

Thanks so much for your posts on the historical background of the local elections, Mike! Because of the Dutch election I haven't had time for them yet, but they look incredibly solid and I'm looking forward to taking the time to read them.

Dijsselbloem should have been more careful in his wording and has caused way too many of these incidents already (though only internationally -- I don't think he has ever made any gaffes here). A shame, because he is a capable minister, which is what he should be judged on. I understand he is an easy target for angry people from Southern Europe now, but it is not as if austerity would not be a thing without Dijsselbloem. Anyway, he will be irrelevant (#3 MP of the seventh largest party...) as soon as a new government is formed here, which may take a while.

[DavidB.]

As PS minority governments with the left are now possible and the right seems to be structurally weaker than the combined left, how does the right expect to get back into government someday? Hope for a conflict between PS on the one hand and BE/CDU on the other hand?

[DavidB.]

As PS minority governments with the left are now possible and the right seems to be structurally weaker than the combined left, how does the right expect to get back into government someday? Hope for a conflict between PS on the one hand and BE/CDU on the other hand?

[snip]
Sorry for the long post, but i think it's important to know the background.

Don't be sorry -- on the contrary! Thanks so much for this insightful post.

[DavidB.]

Will the Portuguese broadcaster be able to properly fund Eurovision 2018? I know that broadcasters in countries like Denmark and Sweden would prefer not to win again because even if the "big five" pay for 80% of the costs, hosting Eurovision remains very expensive.

[DavidB.]

PAN allied with PSD? Why?

[DavidB.]

Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad suggests that Centeno is supported by the Netherlands as well, which apparently infuriated Luxembourgish liberal candidate Pierre Gramegna.

How do you think about Centeno?

[DavidB.]

Introducing MMP would ensure majorities for either PSD or PS and therefore end the dependence of governments on the smaller parties CDU, BE (PS govts) and CDS/PP (PSD govts), which would of course be beneficial for PSD.

I thought you would find this interesting, Mike: Dutch highbrow newspaper NRC Handelsblad had a highly positive article about Portugal as the "Luxembourg of Southern Europe": economically and diplomatically highly successful, good at sports and the winner of Eurovision, a haven of pro-Europeanism free of populism, with a positive atmosphere in the country and labor emigrants returning to the country. See here, perhaps you can run it through Google Translate if you're interested. Of course there are quite a number of caveats, but I don't think the big picture painted in the article is wrong and I liked reading it