🇵🇹 Portugal's politics and elections 2.0

[Mike88]

Usual predictable populist right sloganising, then.

Yes, it leapt out to me how generic these are too...

And it's also interesting is how little coverage the manifesto presentation had. Anyway.

In other election updates: Parties are already putting campaign posters/billboards across the country:

PS - Socialist Party
https://twitter.com/psocialista/status/1474066719752732685

Together We Follow and We Achieved

PSD - Social Democratic Party
https://twitter.com/ArquivoEphemera/status/1474793323424530436

Portugal needs a responsible government.

PAN - People's-Animals-Nature
https://twitter.com/ArquivoEphemera/status/1474758023960834052

For the people, for animals, for nature, Act, Now!

Livre (Free)
https://twitter.com/ArquivoEphemera/status/1474775172498481153

The alternative is to be Free

[Mike88]

December 2021 local by-election results:

Ribeira parish (Terras do Bouro/Braga) by-election - 26 December 2021, 230 registered voters: PSD hold

88.2% PSD, 7 seats
11.8% Blank/Invalid ballots

47.8% Turnout

Esqueiros, Nevogilde e Travassós parish (Vila Verde/Braga) by-election - 12 December 2021, 880 registered voters: Independent hold

88.0% Independent, 7 seats
12.0% Blank/Invalid ballots

42.5% Turnout

Next local by-elections: 9 January 2022 - Touça parish (Vila Nova de Foz Côa/Guarda); 27 March 2022 - São Mamede de Ribatua parish (Alijó/Vila Real)

[Oryxslayer]

Usual predictable populist right sloganising, then.

Yes, it leapt out to me how generic these are too...

Snip

Always interesting to see what parties put their leader front and center on their advertising, and which ones do not.

[Mike88]

Usual predictable populist right sloganising, then.

Yes, it leapt out to me how generic these are too...

Snip

Always interesting to see what parties put their leader front and center on their advertising, and which ones do not.

Some of the campaign billboards are still early. The PSD ones still don't have what seems to be their slogan for the elections, "New Horizons for Portugal". CDS has nothing yet, and, although the PS has what seems to be campaign posters in their website, I haven't seen them yet on the streets. Maybe they will start putting them this week.

The campaign is a bit on a break right now, because of the Christmas-New Years Eve holiday, and party leaders are not very active: Costa is on holiday, Rio is in isolation because of a Covid positive test in his close family, and the rest of party leaders are doing low profile events.

[Mike88]

CNN interview: Costa asks for an absolute majority but says that if he's defeated, he will leave the PS leadership.

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1475462753238278153

António Costa wants an absolute majority, but he also admits the resurrection of deals on the left, once again defending that Cabrita left at the right time and maintains that he will resign if he doesn't win the elections. Exclusive interview tonight.

In a taped interview for CNN Portugal, PM Costa asked clearly for an absolute majority for the PS in the 30 January 2022 election. After spending weeks asking for a "strong and stable" majority, Costa now simply asks for an absolute majority, but also reopens the door for a possible deal with the left, after calling it "dead" a few weeks ago. Regarding his future if he loses the elections, he pressed that he will resign for his party's leadership and doesn't see any possibility of deals with the PSD of Rui Rio, saying that the election is a choice between him and Rio. He added that he can see Rui Rio as a PM, as well as Pedro Nuno Santos, his Minister of Infrastructure, as a PM.

[Mike88]

CNN interview: Rio refuses any talks with CHEGA, but is willing to talk with the other parties in order to form a stable government.

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1475955476236021767

If there is no majority in the January 30 elections, the PSD president says he is available to negotiate. However, he leaves aside a partnership with Chega. See the exclusive interview here:

After PM Costa yesterday, it was Rui Rio's turn to be interview. In a CNN taped interview, Rio refused any talks with CHEGA, adding that he has no sympathy at all for André Ventura, but is open to talk with other parties to have a stable government, despite saying he's not a "negotiation expert". He stressed that his goal is to gain voters by the center, and said he doesn't want CHEGA voters as his objective is to prevent PSD voters leaving the party in favour of the far-right.

[Mike88]

CNN interview: Rio refuses any talks with CHEGA, but is willing to talk with the other parties in order to form a stable government.

In reaction to this interview, CHEGA leader André Ventura, said that Rio's real dream was to be leader of the Socialist Party, adding that Rio position is "pitiful" and that he's despising CHEGA's electorate. However, Rio didn't hold back, and in a tweet he accused Ventura of having zero credibility:

This is the same politician who says he would like to form a post-electoral government coalition with the PSD (with I don't know how many ministers from Chega) to free the country from socialism. Regardless of ideology, none of this can be taken seriously.

Rio also trashed Costa's statement that he proposed a two year government deal, saying that Costa is lying and distorting what he actually said.

[Mike88]

PCP leader Jerónimo de Sousa will only attend the two one-on-one debates next January. Jerónimo will, therefore, only debate the PS and PSD leaders on TVI on 4 January and on SIC on 12 January. He will also attend the all party debate on 17 January. In the rest of the debates between CDU and other parties, all of them in the news channels of the main networks, SIC Notícias, RTP3 and CNN Portugal, the Communists will not be represented. They accuse the networks of not ensuring "impartiality" and of creating first rate parties, PS and PSD, and then second rate parties. They refuse taking part in debates with low ratings and will not be "understated". Looking back to 2019, the exact same thing happened, I just didn't remember it.

So, the number of debates could be reduced if indeed CDU goes ahead with their position, from the current 36 one-on-one debates, to 29. We'll see.

Number of debates reduced as debates between CDU leader Jerónimo de Sousa and other party leaders in the news networks of RTP, SIC ad TVI, are canceled.

The updated list:

2 January: PS vs Livre (9PM on RTP1)
               BE vs CHEGA (10PM on SIC Notícias)

3 January: PSD vs CHEGA (9PM on SIC)
               BE vs CDU (10PM on CNN Portugal) Canceled

4 January: BE vs Livre (Afrer 6PM on SIC Notícias)
               PS vs CDU (9PM on TVI)
               CDS vs PAN (10PM on RTP3)

5 January: CDS vs IL (Afrer 6PM on RTP3)
               PSD vs BE (9PM on SIC)
               CHEGA vs Livre (10PM on CNN Portugal)

6 January: CDU vs Livre (Afrer 6PM on CNN Portugal) Canceled
               PS vs CHEGA (9 PM on RTP1)
               BE vs IL (10PM on SIC Notícias)

7 January: PSD vs CDS (9PM on TVI)
               CDU vs CHEGA (10PM on RTP3) Canceled

8 January: PS vs PAN (9PM on TVI)
               PSD vs Livre (10PM on RTP1)
               CDS vs CDU (11PM on CNN Portugal) Canceled

9 January: PS vs CDS (9PM on SIC)
               IL vs CHEGA (10PM on RTP3)
               PAN vs Livre (11PM on SIC Notícias)

10 January: BE vs PAN (After 6PM on RTP3)
                 PSD vs IL (9PM on SIC)
                 CDS vs Livre (10PM on CNN Portugal)

11 January: IL vs PAN (After 6PM on SIC Notícias)
                 PS vs BE (9PM on RTP1)
                 CDU vs PAN (10PM on CNN Portugal) Canceled

12 January: CDS vs CHEGA (After 6PM on CNN Portugal)
                 PSD vs CDU (9PM on SIC)
                 IL vs Livre (10PM on SIC Notícias)

13 January: PS vs PSD (9PM; Joint broadcast by RTP1, SIC and TVI)

14 January: PAN vs CHEGA (After 6PM on SIC Notícias)
                 PS vs IL (9PM on TVI)
                 BE vs CDS (10PM on RTP3)

15 January: PSD vs PAN (9PM on RTP1)
                 CDU vs IL (10PM on RTP3) Canceled

17 January: All party debate (9PM on RTP1)

18 January: Minor party's debate (9PM on RTP1)

20 January: All party debate (Antena 1, Renascença Radio, TSF)

[Mike88]

GfK/Metris/ICS/ISCTE poll for SIC TV/Expresso newspaper:

Vote share %:

38% PS (-2)
31% PSD (+5)
  7% CHEGA (-3)
  6% CDU (nc)
  5% BE (nc)
  4% IL (+2)
  2% CDS (+1)
  2% PAN (nc)
  1% Others (-1)
  4% Blank/Invalid (-2)

Party leaders approval ratings: (in a scale between 0 and 10)

5.8 António Costa (+0.4)
4.9 Rui Rio (+0.6)
4.2 Catarina Martins (+0.2)
3.9 Jerónimo de Sousa (+0.2)
3.5 Inês Sousa Real (+0.3)
3.2 Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos (+0.1)
3.1 João Cotrim Figueiredo (+0.1)
2.3 André Ventura (-0.3)

Poll conducted between 10 and 20 December 2021. Polled 901 voters by secret ballot. MoE of 3.30%.

[Mike88]

2022 general election: Voting calendar.

- 27 December to 10 January: Prisoners and people hospitalized can registered to receive a ballot;
- 17 to 20 January: Ballot collection of people in jail or in hospital;
- 16 to 20 January: Early voting registration, by mail or online;
- 23 January: Early voting day, polls open from 8am to 7pm;
- 20 to 23 January: People infected or isolated because of Covid can register to receive a ballot;
- 25 and 26 January: Ballot collection of people infected or isolated because of Covid;
- 30 January: Election day, polls open from 8am to 7pm;
- 9 February: Deadline to receive overseas postal ballots postmarked with the date of 29 January;
- 9 February: Counting of overseas ballots;

[Mike88]

Early voting: Local governments will open more polling stations, amid no guidelines from the Electoral Commission.

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1476803136572608513

Local authorities multiply the means to collect votes from those confined and facilitate early voting in the general election

Amid the growing cases of Omicron variant and with no guidelines from the Electoral Commission, several city halls, mainly in the big urban cities of Lisbon, Porto, Gaia and Sintra, are already planning more polling station for voters to vote early on 23 January, and will increase and reinforce the teams to collect the ballots of voters isolated because of the virus. Health officials believe that by the last week of the campaign, probably around 600,000 voters could be isolated. In Lisbon, Mayor Carlos Moedas announced that there will be 133 polling stations for early voting, in the 2021 Presidential elections there were 77, Porto will have 50, it had 30 in January 2021, Sintra 30 and Vila Nova de Gaia 42 polling stations for early voting. Other municipalities are also making the same plans.

[Mike88]

So, new year and the campaign is about to start.

Tomorrow, the first debates will start but only a few are worth watching. Here are my picks:

2 January:  BE vs CHEGA (10PM on SIC Notícias)

3 January: PSD vs CHEGA (9PM on SIC)

4 January: PS vs CDU (9PM on TVI)

6 January: PS vs CHEGA (9 PM on RTP1)

11 January: PS vs BE (9PM on RTP1)

12 January: PSD vs CDU (9PM on SIC)

13 January: PS vs PSD (9PM; Joint broadcast by RTP1, SIC and TVI)

14 January: PS vs IL (9PM on TVI)

17 January: All party debate (9PM on RTP1)

18 January: Minor party's debate (9PM on RTP1)

The rest of the debates are pretty much not that relevant, with very little at play.

[Mike88]

2022 election campaign: More party campaign posters/billboards across the country:

BE - Left Bloc

Health, Salary, Climate. Strong reasons, clear commitments.

CDU - Unitary Democratic Coalition (PCP-PEV)

CDU, decisive force. By your side every day.

CH - CHEGA

https://twitter.com/PartidoCHEGA/status/1476499119707406336

On January 30th, we are going to make the system SHAKE

IL - Liberal Initiative

The only full deposit is the Government's. We pay 60% tax on each liter of gasoline

[Mike88]

First debates: Costa "ignores" Livre, while Martins and Ventura faced off in a heated debate.

The first debate in the campaign, between the PS and Livre, was, as expected, uneventful. Costa spent most of his time ignoring Rui Tavares and only talking about Rui Rio. Tavares tried to say he's willing to support a PS government, but Costa didn't care, it's either me or Mr Rio, he said. Costa, in my opinion, summed up the debate by saying "a vote for Livre doesn't free us from the right".

The debate between BE and CHEGA was completely different, with a clear bad mood between both sides. When the moderator asked Ms Martins about possible post-election deals, she tried to run away from the question and started attacking Ventura's positions regarding corruption. In reply, Ventura said that Martins knows that BE will not be the 3rd largest party and pressed that he will only support a PSD government if CHEGA has government posts, but that he will also do everything in his power to prevent a PS government. Confused? Anyway, in response Martins attacked again Ventura regarding corruption and also used Pope Francis to criticize CHEGA's links to financial institutions and offshores. Ventura said he will be happy to fight and debate offshores and attacked Martins by saying that when she was performing plays as an actress, he was working as a tax inspector fighting against corruption.

https://twitter.com/cnnportugal/status/1477786817600667649

André Ventura says that the “greatest fallacy” of the Left Bloc was not having supported the duplication of penalties for corruption.

The debate went on with both sides attacking each other policies on corruption. Ventura then attacked Martins regarding social supports (RSI) for poor families and of creating a credit line to help refugees families in Portugal, adding that there are people with 200 euros pensions in Portugal and that Martins "wants to give 700 euros, home and work to those who came from the Mediterranean with a mobile phone in their hand". Martins, in response, used Pope Francis words again, in which Ventura joked that Martins in now a "staunch Catholic". The debate ended with back and forward accusations because of Ventura's legal issues, in which Martins remembered Ventura's Court sentence of racism, and Ventura hold a photo of Mamadou Ba, a BE member and activist, accusing BE of being against the police forces.

Tomorrow, it's Rio vs Ventura.

[Continential]

Are there any Portugalese votecompasses/vote matchers?

[Mike88]

Are there any Portugalese votecompasses/vote matchers?

Normally there is one, and it will probably be made, but parties manifestos are still being presented, and maybe only in one/two weeks there will be a votecompass.

[Estrella]

What are Liberal Initiative voters like? I noticed they're as high as 5% in polls. At a glance, the party seems like a typical European liberal party like FDP or D66, with liberal positions on social issues, but are their voters like that too? Or are they basically far-right like various "libertarians" in Spanish-speaking countries?

[Mike88]

What are Liberal Initiative voters like? I noticed they're as high as 5% in polls. At a glance, the party seems like a typical European liberal party like FDP or D66, with liberal positions on social issues, but are their voters like that too? Or are they basically far-right like various "libertarians" in Spanish-speaking countries?

In general, and there's little info about IL voters as the party's results so far have been around 1-3% in all elections since 2019, but looking at polling data, the Liberal voters are more younger, well educated, and from urban areas. Overall, they are like the main liberal parties across Europe, however there are some situations where the party seems to appeal to "libertarians", like when last year they were criticized for holding a "sardinhada" in the Saint Anthony festival in Lisbon when Covid infections were rising, and on social media some IL members and supporters sometimes spread doubts about Covid vaccination, especially regarding children.

So, the party and its supporters look like an ordinary European liberal party, support for lower taxes, liberal social policies, less government intervention, but then has a hint of "libertarianism" in some of their supporters, in my view, which occasionally hurts the party in polls and creates even some tensions within the party.

[Mike88]

PS unveils their manifesto for the general elections:

https://twitter.com/revistaSABADO/status/1478092651245285381

Portugal - PS promises to raise the minimum wage to €900 by 2026

António Costa, presented this afternoon, the Socialist Party manifesto for the 30 January general elections. In a very simple manifesto, just 11 pages, the Socialists propose several policies that were in the 2022 draft budget, rejected by Parliament last October. In his speech, Costa asked for a stable majority in order to govern, remembering that many of the policies were rejected by a "negative coalition" in Parliament, thus stressing the need for a clear and stable outcome in this snap elections. The main policies are the following:

- Persue economic growth in order to converge with the EU;
- Debt reduction to 110% of GDP by 2026;
- Reforms in the recruitment regime for teachers and others;
- Expansion of Family Health Units in order to cover 80% of the population by 2026 and expansion of seniors healthcare in nursing homes;
- Reach 80% of green energy in the production of electricity by 2026;
- Free day care by 2024;
- Implement the Agenda for Dignified Labour by July 2022
- Discussion of new views to balance work and family life, like pondering a 4 day work week;
- Increase the share of wages in GDP to 48% by 2026;
- Increase of the minimum wage to 900 euros by 2026;
- Increase the share of exporting companies to 53% by 2026;
- Changes in IRS rates in order to reduce taxes for middle class families;

[Mike88]

Rio vs Ventura: Ventura is open to accept a PSD government if CHEGA is part of it, but Rio refuses power at any cost.

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1478131387068829696

Legislative Elections 2022: Isn't this “who wants to marry the farmer”?

The Rio vs Ventura debate was focused, mainly, on what will happen after the elections. Rio refused any sort of coalition with CHEGA, adding that the party is "unstable" and trying to put pressure on Ventura if he will let the PSD govern or not. Ventura pressed that he will only accept a PSD government if CHEGA has cabinet posts, at the same time both Rio and Ventura agree that Costa has to be removed from power. How? It's still unclear. Very little policy was discussed and what was discussed was confusing. Regarding life imprisonment, Ventura pressured Rio on it, but Rio only laid out how the law is in some EU countries. Regarding pensions, Rio said he will not cut pensions, in which Ventura agreed. In the end, Rio said that it's up to Ventura to decide if he lets the PSD govern or not, while Ventura responded that the differences between PSD and CHEGA aren't political but in fact personal, and said that Rio's goal is to be deputy PM of Costa.

A note: After watching 3 debates, this format is ridiculous. 30 minutes debates, with basically each candidate just speaking 12 minutes, don't work and seem like a waste of time.

[Mike88]

The hot topic of today in the campaign: life imprisonment.

After the Rio vs Ventura debate where Ventura pressured Rio regarding life imprisonment, Rio said that he's against full life imprisonment, but highlighted the laws of Germany which has the possibility of renewal or not of the penalty. PM Costa and the PS are trashing Rio for suggesting he's open to discuss the return of life imprisonment in Portugal, which was already refuted by the PSD, via statement, in which they accuse the PS of "misrepresenting" the words of Rui Rio.

Rio also posted a tweet mocking Costa by saying that "If they continue to misrepresent what I say in this way, another week and Dr. António Costa may be accusing me of defending that women should wear a burka"

With so many problems in the country, the main topic of the day is this , when in reality, polling along the years shows that a pretty big chunk of the population is in favour of the return of life imprisonment for violent crimes.

[VPH]

The hot topic of today in the campaign: life imprisonment.

After the Rio vs Ventura debate where Ventura pressured Rio regarding life imprisonment, Rio said that he's against full life imprisonment, but highlighted the laws of Germany which has the possibility of renewal or not of the penalty. PM Costa and the PS are trashing Rio for suggesting he's open to discuss the return of life imprisonment in Portugal, which was already refuted by the PSD, via statement, in which they accuse the PS of "misrepresenting" the words of Rui Rio.

Rio also posted a tweet mocking Costa by saying that "If they continue to misrepresent what I say in this way, another week and Dr. António Costa may be accusing me of defending that women should wear a burka"

With so many problems in the country, the main topic of the day is this , when in reality, polling along the years shows that a pretty big chunk of the population is in favour of the return of life imprisonment for violent crimes.

Maybe it's the American in me, but I'm much more outraged by the fact that prison sentences are sometimes so low for horrible crimes in Portugal. Seems like the PS' line of attack on this might fall short...

[Mike88]

Maybe it's the American in me, but I'm much more outraged by the fact that prison sentences are sometimes so low for horrible crimes in Portugal. Seems like the PS' line of attack on this might fall short...

Exactly, this attack on the matter itself is a bit worthless, IMO, especially, like you pointed, that prison sentences and rulings in Portugal are, more often than not, very soft and create disappointment.

But this attack, in my view, is just a small part of a more wider attack the PS may throw at the PSD: the possible support of CHEGA to a PSD government. In the debate, both Rio and Ventura rejected a coalition, but besides that, things may be open. The PS will probably attack by accusing the PSD of becoming "radical", and that they (PS) are the only safe and moderate bet. But of course this line of attack can also hit the PS, because the PSD has already said they are willing to let the PS govern if Costa wins and have challenged the PS to answer what will they do in the scenario of a PSD win. And the PS response has been an uncomfortable silence as Costa says that he will resign if he loses, basically giving the PS to Pedro Nuno Santos who wants a "Geringonça 2.0", and will most likely block at every chance a possible PSD minority government. Meaning, and some PS pundits have warned about this, the PS could "force" the PSD to negotiate with CHEGA. The PS campaign so far is "give us a strong and stable majority", but what will they do if they don't have one or even lose, it's unclear, sort of.

Adding to this, there were 3 debates today: BE vs Livre; PS vs CDU; CDS vs PAN

- The BE vs Livre debate was uneventful, with the most interesting moment of the debate was when Catarina Martins, BE leader, said that Costa was an obstacle to a leftwing deal.

- The PS vs CDU debate was, well, a good one, as real policy was actually discussed, but Jerónimo de Sousa was the clear loser as he was unable to respond to Costa's attacks. Costa accused the leftwing parties of creating an unnecessary crisis, and that it's now clear that only a strong PS majority can give stability. Jerónimo tried to maintain the door open for possible deals, but with little trust from Costa.

- The CDS vs PAN showed a very "energetic" Chicão against a very low profile Inês Sousa Real. The debate centered a lot around farming and the environment. The CDS leader attacked heavily PAN for being a "a radical animalist party" who wants to destroy rural life as we know it. Sousa Real refuted the attacks and said the attack against her farming deals are "leaded" by agriculture associations. Rodrigues dos Santos defended the privatization of public transportation, while Sousa Real doesn't agree with a carbon tax in 2022 because of the economic crisis.

[Mike88]

Today's debates: IL vs CDS; PSD vs BE and Livre vs CHEGA. A quick summary:

- IL vs CDS: A tense debate between the two parties on the right. CDS leader Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, accused IL of being "leftwing" on everything besides the economy, which received a response from IL leader Cotrim Figueiredo that the CDS leader is a "young man with old man ideas". Both rejected deals with CHEGA, while on economics CDS accused IL of being too radical and of wanting to privatize everything.

- PSD vs BE: A calm debate between two sides that don't agree on anything. Rio was first asked about the controversy of the day, life imprisonment, and he said he's against, while Catarina Martins accused Rio of "normalizing" the far-right. Regarding the economy, Rio accused BE of a policy of tax, tax, tax, defending that economic growth has to come from productivity of businesses and not spending. Martins trashed Rio proposal saying they would destroy the country. The minimum wage was also a topic with Rio warning that the gap between the average and minimum wage is being erased and it's a problem, while Martins blames the PSD for bad labour laws. Regarding the NHS, Rio wants more cooperation between private and public hospitals and said that when millions of people have private health insurance, something is wrong. Martins accused Rio of seeing Healthcare as a business and that Rio wants to "give" the NHS to the private sector.

- Livre vs CHEGA: The debate started with Livre's proposal of UBI and Ventura refused that policy saying this policy would create job vacancies as no one would want to find work, and accused Livre of an irresponsible policy. Tavares accused Ventura of several inconsistencies and trashed his economic policies. Ventura said the Tavares shouldn't be on the debates as Livre doesn't have MPs anymore and raised the "Joacine affair". Taveres raised the issue of corruption and "threw" at Ventura's face his links with the former Benfica President, Luís Filipe Vieira, who is accused of corruption.

[Mike88]

Yesterday's debates: PS vs CHEGA and BE vs IL. A summary:

- PS vs CHEGA: Costa and Ventura faced in a highly expected debate. The final result was a bit of a disappointment. Costa started the debate attacking Ventura's position regarding Covid vaccines, but not answering the question of the possible issue of 600,000 voters being barred from voting because of Covid confinements. Ventura did a "flip flop" and announced he will take the vaccine and criticized Costa's handling of the pandemic and of the NHS. Costa then trashed Ventura's proposal of a IRS flat tax, saying it's unfair, and Ventura had real difficulty in explaining it. The final part of debate was dominated by corruption. Costa accused Ventura of skipping key votes about corruption in Parliament, while Ventura "threw" at Costa "the Sócrates card", plus other several other controversies that created a bit of a shouting match between both.

- BE vs IL: A calm a debate, but where real policies were discussed, quite rare in this marathon of debates. The debate started with Cotrim Figueiredo defending his proposal of a flat IRS tax, which as criticized by Martins was a hand out to the rich. Figueiredo was also pressured about IL's votes against the States of Emergency during 2020 and 2021 and Catarina Martins trashed IL by calling them irresponsible. Regarding the minimum wage, Figueiredo said he's against the existence of a minimum wage. Regarding the NHS, Figueiredo accused BE of not wanting to modernize the Health system and that is a hand out to the private sector, while Martins said that reinforcement of the NHS has to cost "what ever it takes". The debate ended with Education and Martins trashed IL's policies of freedom of choice in terms of picking a school, which Figueiredo failed to answer.