🇵🇹 Portugal's politics and elections 2.0

[Mike88]

PM António Costa to make a speech regarding the Presidential approval of social supports:

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1377270894024925193

Prime Minister will speak to the country about social supports at 6:30 pm.

The Prime Minister's office has announced that Costa will give a speech to the nation regarding the approval, by President Marcelo, of social supports against the government's wishes. The PM and his inner circle have been analysing the President's decree and are being pressured by many PS members to send the social supports to the Constitutional Court. Many Constitutionalists have also been trashing President's Marcelo decision. The PM will, therefore, announce the government's decision on what the following steps will be.

[Mike88]

PM Costa opposes President Marcelo and sends the new social supports to the Constitutional Court:

https://twitter.com/observadorpt/status/1377320055239815175

"Law is law". Costa opposes Marcelo and sends social support to the Constitutional Court

The PM spoke this afternoon about the ongoing new social supports controversy. The PM said the government decided to send the new social supports to the Constitutional Court with the argument that they clearly violate the law and should not be implemented. Costa added that "the Law is the Law" and that "the Constitution is the supreme law either the government is a minority or a majority." He also says that the President's approval tried to limit the constitutional damages these new social supports do, but that doubts are still present. The PM didn't confront directly, but however indirectly, the President but attacked parties in Parliament saying that "it wasn't their time", adding that their time was in the budget discussion and not now.

[Mike88]

Reactions to Costa's decision to send the Social Supports to the Court:

President Marcelo reacted to Costa's decision saying that "it is the Law that serves policy, it is not the policy that serves the Law", and adds he's now worried about what lies ahead reinforcing the view that the recovery of the country implies that the next two budgets, 2022 and 2023, need to be approved.

However, here lies the problem. The left parties are furious with Costa and the PS, and are ready to increase the confrontation against the government. PCP and BE don't understand Costa's decision and accuse the government of creating instability and "playing with fire". Negotiations for the 2022 budget will probably be very, very complicated.

On the right, the PSD says the government has every right to go to the Courts but adds that, in the end, it's the people who suffer as the government isn't proposing policies or supports to help people and pressed the government to find "creative" policies to help people. The Liberals (IL) accuse the government of "arrogance" and of creating a fake crisis by not acknowledging the need for more social supports. CHEGA says the PS is isolated while CDS says that Costa's decision is the "biggest gesture of political bankruptcy" of his term.

[Mike88]

Social supports crisis: Court could only have a ruling by the end of 2022.

https://twitter.com/ECO_PT/status/1377672163747115008

Costa asked for an urgent ruling, but the Constitutional Court has no deadline to decide

The government has asked urgency to the Court but the media says that a ruling could only be announced by the end of 2022. With no deadline for a ruling, the Court says they have, currently, 17 bills in analysis and a majority have a ruling in the final phase, but the average period of a decision is always well above a year. The Court adds that, however, that period could be cut in half if the Court recognizes the urgency of the request. Expresso newspaper adds that these kind of requests don't have preference, so even with urgency the most recent go to the bottom of the waiting list.

[Mike88]

Corruption investigations: José Sócrates to know next week if he goes to trial or not. The ruling could be a political bomb.

https://twitter.com/expresso/status/1378301548225265667

Decision of the Sócrates case: ‘bomb’ in politics ... or in justice? "He will not be quiet"

Next Friday, April 9, a judge will decide if José Sócrates, and other accused like former BES chairman Ricardo Salgado, will go to trial for corruption, money schemes and other crimes. The ruling is very awaited as it has been delayed a few times already. The judge will decide if he upholds the crimes the DA office accuses Mr Sócrates, but the case is controversial as many accuse the DA office of a weak defense and of confusing proofes, but Judge Ivo Rosa, the judge that will decide, is also controversial as many of his rulings have been reverted by higher Courts. The decision could create a political and judicial bomb as Mr Sócrates is a very toxic person as the right uses him, over and over again, to attack the PS, which, on their turn, is an embarrassment for the Socialists and they have long stopped defending Sócrates and want distance from him. Either way, Mr Sócrates is unlikely to be silent.

[Mike88]

Social supports crisis: President Marcelo "throws splinters" at the Prime Minister.

https://twitter.com/observadorpt/status/1378390747397955589

Marcelo does not disguise tension in his response to Costa and creates the concept of “preventive salvation of the Budget”

The Social Supports fallout continues to dominate headlines. Pundits are somewhat split on who is right and wrong in this crisis, some say that Marcelo was wrong to sign a bill that hurts the Constitution and that Costa is now "the savior" of it, while others point that this isn't so much a legal issue but a political issue in which a Socialist government is refusing to expand social supports, for people affected by the pandemic, and the President is forcing them. Nonetheless, President Marcelo gave, today, his first full and public response to Costa decision last week. The President seems to be clearly upset with Costa as he said that if he was as "rigorous" as the government seems to be now, many of Costa budgets would die at birth, but that he signed them all for the sake of political stability. He pressed on to say that don't count on him to create a political crisis and that his goal, now, is to have the 2022 and 2023 budgets approved by Parliament. The President actually says that his approval of the social supports against the government's wishes, was a "Preventive Budget Salvation" for 2022.

Now, it's unclear how would this save the 2022 budget as PCP and BE are, currently, furious with the PS. Plus, adding to this, the fall local elections, which could give a very bad result for the PCP, could force a full blown budget crisis that could end in snap elections. The budget for 2022 could still, in may view, pass if the PSD gets humiliated in the local elections and a new leader has to be elected. In that space of time, the PSD could be forced to abstain in the budget and it will pass. But, this would be just a temporary meassure as the budget execution during 2022 could spark even more tensions.

[Mike88]

PSD mayor of Viseu, Almeida Henriques, died of Covid-19:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1378622067873087488

Viseu: Almeida Henriques, Mayor of Viseu, died victim of Covid-19.

The mayor of Viseu city, almost 100,000 inhabitants, Almeida Henriques (PSD) died this morning from Covid-19. He was hospitalized in Viseu city hospital since March 10 and was in ICU since mid last month. PSD leader Rui Rio has already reacted saying he's sadden by the dead of Mr Henriques, and the government and President Marcelo have also sent condolences to his family. Mr Henriques was mayor of Viseu since 2013 and was running for reelection this year. Viseu city hall has also reacted by saying the city in now "orphan" and that Mr Henriques work has been abruptly stopped but that his legacy in the city will endure and continue.

[Mike88]

2021 local elections update:

- In the PSD, there's utter chaos in 3 cities: Portimão, Amadora and Barcelos. In Portimão, the PSD nominated a former PS councillor that became famous by eating a bunch of papers when the police entered his office to investigate corrupt deals. The national PSD forced the local PSD to drop this nomination. In Amadora, the local party nominated Suzana Garcia, a criminal commentator that has controversial positions like support for chemical castration for pedophiles, f.e.. The national party was unaware of her positions and her candidacy is now in danger. And in Barcelos, a PSD bastion, the party choose, finally, a candidate and it will be João Sousa, the chairman of one of Portugal's main fashion industries, Flor da Moda, that owns the Ana Sousa fashion brand;

- In the PS, in Barcelos city, just like the PSD, there's big tensions about the elections. The current mayor is involved in several corruption investigations but the local PS has nominated him as candidate for the local assembly while the current leader of the local assembly of Barcelos, Horácio Barra, will be the candidate for mayor. These nominations are creating a lot of tension and protests in the local party;

- Independent mayors continue to be very impatient with parties in Parliament, and are again renovating their threat of creating their own party if Parliament doesn't reverse the 2020 changes in the electoral law that limited independent candidacies. PS has proposed changes in the law, while PSD is more stubborn and is very wary of making changes in the law;

- In Ponte de Lima, a CDS bastion, the party is deeply divided. 3 CDS members are running, 1 as the official party candidate and the other two as independents, which could fracture the CDS vote in Ponte de Lima. The PSD refused a coalition with CDS and has presented their own candidate. The CDS won here, in 2017, with 52% of the votes but a fragmented CDS could make this village a winnable place for the PSD. A race to watch.

More updates when available.

[Mike88]

Aximage poll for JN/DN newspapers and TSF radio:

Vote share %:

39.7% PS (+2.1)
23.6% PSD (-2.9)
  8.6% BE (+0.9)
  8.5% CHEGA (+2.0)
  6.0% CDU (+0.2)
  4.8% IL (-0.9)
  3.2% PAN (-0.7)
  1.1% CDS (+0.3)
  0.8% Livre (-0.3)
  3.6% Others/Invalid (-0.5)

Preferred PM:

54% António Costa (nc)
18% Rui Rio (-2)
18% Neither (-1)
  4% Both (+1)
  6% Undecided (-2)

Government approval:

55% Approve (+5)
24% Disapprove (-9)
19% Average (+4)
  2% Undecided (nc)

President of the Republic approval:

72% Approve (+4)
17% Disapprove (-1)
  9% Average (-3)
  2% Undecided (nc)

Poll conducted between 24 and 27 March 2021. Polled 830 voters. MoE of 3.40%.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

1. Lmao José Socrates. How is he still around? And how is there even the chance he doesn't get sent to a trial?

2. I see the rift between Marcelo and Costa is officially getting bigger and bigger. This is not at all unexpected, I suppose, but also not great. It is interesting that they both keep having pretty good approval ratings (although I wonder whether and how this is going to change in the following weeks) - I would say that this story is among other things another testament to the ineffectiveness of Rui Rio, who looks... absent from the headlines. Speaking of whom, what is the chance that he resigns after the local elections?

3. Rest in peace Almeida Henriques.

[Mike88]

1. Lmao José Socrates. How is he still around? And how is there even the chance he doesn't get sent to a trial?

2. I see the rift between Marcelo and Costa is officially getting bigger and bigger. This is not at all unexpected, I suppose, but also not great. It is interesting that they both keep having pretty good approval ratings (although I wonder whether and how this is going to change in the following weeks) - I would say that this story is among other things another testament to the ineffectiveness of Rui Rio, who looks... absent from the headlines. Speaking of whom, what is the chance that he resigns after the local elections?

3. Rest in peace Almeida Henriques.

1. Sócrates is always around. He's basically a shadow that continues to hover around as he is the embodiment of all that is wrong and toxic in the political class in Portugal. There's a chance he could avoid trial because of 2 factors: the DA has been accused of creating a highly complex case against him in which a minor error could derail the whole accusation, plus, the judge who will make the call, Ivo Rosa, is very controversial and several of his rulings in the Sócrates case have been revoked by higher Courts. Now, if the judge decides not to take Sócrates to trial, that doesn't mean the end of this case as the DA could still appeal to the Relação Court, which can revoke the decision. But, in the meantime, Sócrates would have the spotlight and seek revenge for those who abandoned him. Some pundits compare the Sócrates case with Lula's in Brazil, and curiously, Lula is also a suspect in Sócrates money schemes;

2. Yeah, the rift between Costa and Marcelo is not going away and the President responded in a very harsh way to Costa. Of course this film isn't new, as Presidents in their second term always have tensions with the Prime Ministers, but this one was earlier than expected. My hunch is that this a battle for power and who really controlls the agenda. In practice, Costa is the only one with real powers, but Marcelo isn't a "ceremonial" President and want his will and voice heard which is now creating a clash. The fact that both are very popular, reinforces the opinion that this is a power struggle, but polling also shows that in terms of trust, Marcelo beats Costa 3 to 1, so it will be interesting to see if this clash with Marcelo hurts Costa's popularity and the PS, or even the other way around.

About Rio, he has been out of the spotlight in the last few days mainly because he had to put out fires ignited by local branches of the PSD: the PSD-Amadora pick, Suzana Garcia, was received with raised eye brows in the leadership and then there's the total mess happening in Portimão. In terms of press, Rio actually got a pretty good month of March, with pundits and the media applauding many of his picks for the local elections and his tough stance against the government in the Dam tax scandal. But, yes, polling still shows him as ineffective and not a real alternative against Costa. His future is dependent on the PSD performance in the September local elections. The PSD seems to be in a much better position this time compared with 2017, with strong candidates in the main cities, especially Lisbon, but Rio has already said that he will step down his he fails to make substantial gains in the local elections.

3. The Almeida Henriques news is very sad but, unfortunately, it was expected for a while. He had been in an ICU for the last few weeks and the updates given by Viseu city hall, pointed that his situation was getting worse and worse. Last week, he was even victim of a fake rumour spread by CMTV, a TV channel that has a 4-5% tv rating and is like if Fox News and TMZ merged, saying that he had died but that was denied by Viseu city hall which warned about fake rumors. The PSD now needs to pick a candidate for that city and the indications seem to suggest the party will pick Mr Henriques predecessor, Fernando Ruas, as the PSD candidate for mayor of Viseu, who is known as Mr Roundabouts.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

1. Lmao José Socrates. How is he still around? And how is there even the chance he doesn't get sent to a trial?

2. I see the rift between Marcelo and Costa is officially getting bigger and bigger. This is not at all unexpected, I suppose, but also not great. It is interesting that they both keep having pretty good approval ratings (although I wonder whether and how this is going to change in the following weeks) - I would say that this story is among other things another testament to the ineffectiveness of Rui Rio, who looks... absent from the headlines. Speaking of whom, what is the chance that he resigns after the local elections?

3. Rest in peace Almeida Henriques.

1. Sócrates is always around. He's basically a shadow that continues to hover around as he is the embodiment of all that is wrong and toxic in the political class in Portugal. There's a chance he could avoid trial because of 2 factors: the DA has been accused of creating a highly complex case against him in which a minor error could derail the whole accusation, plus, the judge who will make the call, Ivo Rosa, is very controversial and several of his rulings in the Sócrates case have been revoked by higher Courts. Now, if the judge decides not to take Sócrates to trial, that doesn't mean the end of this case as the DA could still appeal to the Relação Court, which can revoke the decision. But, in the meantime, Sócrates would have the spotlight and seek revenge for those who abandoned him. Some pundits compare the Sócrates case with Lula's in Brazil, and curiously, Lula is also a suspect in Sócrates money schemes;

2. Yeah, the rift between Costa and Marcelo is not going away and the President responded in a very harsh way to Costa. Of course this film isn't new, as Presidents in their second term always have tensions with the Prime Ministers, but this one was earlier than expected. My hunch is that this a battle for power and who really controlls the agenda. In practice, Costa is the only one with real powers, but Marcelo isn't a "ceremonial" President and want his will and voice heard which is now creating a clash. The fact that both are very popular, reinforces the opinion that this is a power struggle, but polling also shows that in terms of trust, Marcelo beats Costa 3 to 1, so it will be interesting to see if this clash with Marcelo hurts Costa's popularity and the PS, or even the other way around.

About Rio, he has been out of the spotlight in the last few days mainly because he had to put out fires ignited by local branches of the PSD: the PSD-Amadora pick, Suzana Garcia, was received with raised eye brows in the leadership and then there's the total mess happening in Portimão. In terms of press, Rio actually got a pretty good month of March, with pundits and the media applauding many of his picks for the local elections and his tough stance against the government in the Dam tax scandal. But, yes, polling still shows him as ineffective and not a real alternative against Costa. His future is dependent on the PSD performance in the September local elections. The PSD seems to be in a much better position this time compared with 2017, with strong candidates in the main cities, especially Lisbon, but Rio has already said that he will step down his he fails to make substantial gains in the local elections.

3. The Almeida Henriques news is very sad but, unfortunately, it was expected for a while. He had been in an ICU for the last few weeks and the updates given by Viseu city hall, pointed that his situation was getting worse and worse. Last week, he was even victim of a fake rumour spread by CMTV, a TV channel that has a 4-5% tv rating and is like if Fox News and TMZ merged, saying that he had died but that was denied by Viseu city hall which warned about fake rumors. The PSD now needs to pick a candidate for that city and the indications seem to suggest the party will pick Mr Henriques predecessor, Fernando Ruas, as the PSD candidate for mayor of Viseu, who is known as Mr Roundabouts.

1. I see. What a toxic case. I remember Sócrates wrote a pretty hilarious op-ed for some Brazilian outlet somewhere months ago, by the way. I don't know how much his case resembles Lula's, but I hope this Ivo Rosa and the Portuguese courts in general show more integrity than what was seen in Sergio Moro...

2. Yeah, you told me about how it's a tradition for second-term Presidents to have exactly this sort of clashes. I agree with the rest of what you said about the power struggle.
About Rio, what would constitute substantial gains from his point of view?

3. Why is Fernando Ruas known as Mr. Roundabouts?

[Mike88]

1. I see. What a toxic case. I remember Sócrates wrote a pretty hilarious op-ed for some Brazilian outlet somewhere months ago, by the way. I don't know how much his case resembles Lula's, but I hope this Ivo Rosa and the Portuguese courts in general show more integrity than what was seen in Sergio Moro...

2. Yeah, you told me about how it's a tradition for second-term Presidents to have exactly this sort of clashes. I agree with the rest of what you said about the power struggle.
About Rio, what would constitute substantial gains from his point of view?

3. Why is Fernando Ruas known as Mr. Roundabouts?

1. Yes, Sócrates started writing op-eds, a few years ago, in a Brazilian outlet called "Carta Capital", which according to the Portuguese media is close to the Workers Party (PT). He most recently wrote an op-ed, in the same magazine, about the January Presidential elections trashing Ana Gomes. The case against Sócrates is strong but is very complex, involves a lot of people and this complexity means that it needs to be defended very carefully. Like the Lula case, this case involves the political and financial world in Portugal, with former BES bank leader Ricardo Salgado, f.e. as a suspect in the case. Judge Ivo Rosa is a judge in the 1st Instance Courts, which are Courts that sometimes, and more often than not, give weird and controversial sentences that are then resolved by more experienced and well regarded judges in the Relação Courts, the 2nd Instance Courts. The selection of Ivo Rosa as judge was also controversial as the previous judge was a fierce critic, and enemy, of Sócrates and the change was to give more stability to the case. Let's wait for the decision but the case is far from over.

2. Rio needs to close the huge gap between the PS and PSD, as the current state of parties is 161-98 cities in favour of the PS. Surpassing the PS is mathematically possible but it isn't a realistic possibility, so, the PSD needs to close that gap. Winning Lisbon would already be a huge coup for Rio and if he's able to gain a few more big cities, like Coimbra or Funchal, have strong showings in more big cities like Gaia and Sintra, plus regain control of some small to mid size cities, he would be in a strong position and remain as PSD leader.

3. Fernando Ruas is known as the "Mr Roundabouts" because when he was the PSD mayor of Viseu, between 1989-2013, he developed a road system in Viseu city full of roundabouts. You can see in the map of the city, the ridiculous number of roundabouts in the city: (you can zoom in ant out to see it better)
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/40.6572/-7.9126

Basically all mayors of Portugal started copying him and, currently, roundabouts are basically a way of life in Portugal. xD xD

[Mike88]

CHEGA-Azores crisis: Challenger of CHEGA-Azores leader drops out from the snap leadership race.

https://twitter.com/observadorpt/status/1379399096419684352

José Pacheco gives up on the race to Chega / Açores. Carlos Furtado is, so far, the only candidate  

CHEGA regional MP, José Pacheco, has dropped out from the snap party leadership race after consulting with party members and supporters. Mr Pacheco announced this decision today, and said it's time to end the disagreements within the party. He added that he took this decision to defend and save the party, plus to end the tension and save the party's caucus in the regional Parliament, saying "Sometimes is better to have peace than reason". He concluded that he will be on alert regarding the current leadership, that he still accuses of being "indecisive".

The regional party entered, in late January, in a bitter internal feud because of Mr Pacheco's inflammatory posts of Facebook regarding the social income support (RSI). Carlos Furtado, CHEGA-Azores leader and regional MP, was furious with the post and demanded its deletion, which was badly receive by Mr Pacheco. He accused Mr Furtado of being too moderate and challenged him for a leadership race. Ventura even tried to mediate a "peace treaty" between the two CHEGA MPs but with no success. Mr Furtado then resigned, announced his run and called an election for May 1st, that was also contested by José Pacheco as he said he wasn't "properly" informed. Other reasons given, but not public, for Mr Pacheco withdraw from the race was the fear that Carlos Furtado would leave the party and seat as an Independent and fears that the party was also collapsing in the region.

Let's see how long the "peace" lasts in CHEGA-Azores.

[Mike88]

2021 local election update:

- The PSD will present more candidates today. The most controversial one is Rio's approval for Amadora. For days now, the media has been criticizing the PSD-Amadora for picking Suzana Garcia, a pink-TV commentator that has controversial postions, and the national PSD seemed undecided on what to do. Last night, Rio approved Ms Garcia candidacy and, according to sources, said the media hyped the controversy*. In Oeiras, the decision is not yet made as the PSD is still undecided of they support Isaltino Morais or present a candidate of their own. Rio wants to support Isaltino Morais;

- In the PS, the Porto city race is heating up internal divisions. José Luís Carneiro, Costa's deputy in the PS, wants to run for Porto mayor, but Manuel Pizarro, the PS candidate in 2013 and 2017, doesn't like the idea as it could take power from him in the PS machine in Porto district. Mr Pizarro, a MEP since 2019, hasn't ruled a 3rd run yet but he seems to want to stop Mr Carneiro's run in Porto. A process to watch.

- CDU wants to regain cities they lost in 2017, mainly Almada and Barreiro, and they hitting them hard. In Almada, the Communists will present the current mayor of Setúbal to face the incumbent PS mayor. And in Barreiro, the CDU presents the former mayor of Barreiro, Carlos Humberto Carvalho (2005-2017), as candidate to face the also incumbent PS. Another race to watch is Seixal, as the CDU barely hold it in 2017 and several scandals in the CDU led city could give it to the PS, a race to watch;

- Tomorrow, Parliament will vote on the abolishment of reflection day. The current law, forbids any election campaign 24 hours before election day, and the Liberals (IL) want to abolish it. It's unclear, however, how the vote will play out;

(* Like the PS pick for Évora, this one from the PSD is pure stupidity. In a time when the party needs everything but negative publicity, the party chooses negative publicity. Madness, but whatever. The PSD continues their long streak of presenting "TV commentators" in the Lisbon suburbs, which, tbf, hasn't been that bad electorally for the party, but the negative publicity nationwide damages more the party.)

More update when available.

[Mike88]

Former PS minister, Jorge Coelho, died in a car crash this afternoon, age 66:

https://twitter.com/Renascenca/status/1379860508312997891

Jorge Coelho, historic socialist member, died

Jorge Coelho, former minister and right arm of then PM António Guterres, died, this afternoon, in a car crash when he suffered a heart attack. All political leaders from left to right are reacting to the tragic news, with especially PM Costa, as he was very emotional while speaking to the press earlier this evening. Mr Coelho was deputy minister and Infrastructure minister during António Guterres governments (1995-2002) and he resigned from office in the aftermath of the disaster of the Hintz Ribeiro bridge colapse in 2001. He was still active in the PS, architecting the successful 2005 PS campaign, that gave them a majority. He then worked in the private sector, mainly on Mota-Engil, one Portugal's biggest construction companies. However, he was still a very controversial politician and he was actually the author of one of the most known attacks in Portuguese politics: "Whoever messes with the PS, takes it."

[Mike88]

Elections in Portugal: Reflection day on the verge of being abolished, it seems.

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1380113195835215876

Liberal Initiative wants to end the day of reflection before the elections - RTP Notícias.

Today, a Liberal Initiative bill to abolish the Reflection day, a 24 hour blackout of election reports/campaign on the day before election day, will be debated in Parliament. According to RTP, the idea seems to be pleasing most parties in Parliament and although it will debated, the bill will probably not be voted and will go to a final draft on speciality to receive contributions by other parties. The change could arrive at time for the September local elections.

[Mike88]

Corruption investigations: Former PM José Sócrates, and others, to know today if they will go to trial due to corruption and money schemes.

https://twitter.com/RTPNoticias/status/1380039934950715393

Operation Marquis. José Sócrates on the verge of knowing if he is going to trial - RTP Notícias

Is this afternoon, after 2:30pm, that Judge Ivo Rosa will read the long awaited ruling of José Sócrates corruption case, called Operation Marquis. Mr Sócrates is accused of 31 crimes going from corruption to money laundering and fraud. Others accused, are involved in Sócrates money schemes, are former BES bank chairman, Ricardo Salgado, former Portugal Telecom leaders Zeinal Bava and Henrique Granadeiro, and the "best friend" of Sócrates, the man who allegedly gave all the money, Carlos Santos Silva. In total, the 28 suspects in this case, from people to bussiness companies, are accused of 189 crimes. During the week, it was also reveled that the police found a safe box, in Switzerland, with a document showing that Sócrates was the heir of 34 million euros. The money, according to the DA and the police, was from Sócrates best friend, Carlos Santos Silva, but they accuse Mr Silva of being just the face as they say the money comes from bribes to Sócrates.

Sócrates started being investigated in 2013 and was arrested and detained in 2014, He spent almost an year in prison until being released in September 2015, on the eve of the 2015 elections. The case arrived at Courts in 2019 and one of the big criticisms of the case is that is taking too long and if fact, with possible appeals and back and forwards, the case could drag on until 2036. This case is dominating the media, but they are already preparing the ground for a possible no trial decision by the judge and subsequent appeal of the DA to the Relação Courts. We'll see the outcome.

[Mike88]

José Socrates is accused of corruption but the crime has prescribed, so he will not be put on trial by this crime. The judge is now reading his ruling on the other crimes.

[Mike88]

José Socrates is accused of corruption but the crime has prescribed, so he will not be put on trial by this crime. The judge is now reading his ruling on the other crimes.

So far, all the crimes the DA accused Sócrates, Salgado, others are being dismissed by the judge or have prescribed. The judge is actually trashind the DA accusation.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

José Sócrates getting saved by the statute of limitations is something I had not considered, and it leaves kind of a bad taste in the mouth.

[Mike88]

José Sócrates getting saved by the statute of limitations is something I had not considered, and it leaves kind of a bad taste in the mouth.

This ruling is just... Infuriating!! You can argue that the DA office has made several mistakes in the accusation but, IMO, the naivety of the judge in many of his statements is just mind boggling. The joke is social media, right now, is that there's no legal prove that Sócrates was even Prime Minister.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

José Sócrates getting saved by the statute of limitations is something I had not considered, and it leaves kind of a bad taste in the mouth.

This ruling is just... Infuriating!! You can argue that the DA office has made several mistakes in the accusation but, IMO, the naivety of the judge in many of his statements is just mind boggling. The joke is social media, right now, is that there's no legal prove that Sócrates was even Prime Minister.

I mean, we have seen similar things. Giulio Andreotti got away from his trial for being an accomplice to Mafia crimes with a ruling according to which there was no conclusive evidence that his active collusion lasted beyond 1980 - while the crimes before 1980 narrowly fell under the statute of limitations.

[Mike88]

JUST IN: The Judge accepted 6 crimes of money laundering and forgery of documents and Sócrates and his best friend, Carlos Santos Silva, will go to trial on these crimes. In question there are 1.7 million euros in cash loans from Silva to Sócrates as this money was used in illegal schemes and that Sócrates excuses and explanations are invalid.

Of the 31 crimes he was accused, only 6 were accepted by the judge. The corruption accusations were all dismissed or prescribed.

The DA also announced, in the end of the judge ruling, that they will appeal to the Relação Courts.

José Sócrates getting saved by the statute of limitations is something I had not considered, and it leaves kind of a bad taste in the mouth.

This ruling is just... Infuriating!! You can argue that the DA office has made several mistakes in the accusation but, IMO, the naivety of the judge in many of his statements is just mind boggling. The joke is social media, right now, is that there's no legal prove that Sócrates was even Prime Minister.

I mean, we have seen similar things. Giulio Andreotti got away from his trial for being an accomplice to Mafia crimes with a ruling according to which there was no conclusive evidence that his active collusion lasted beyond 1980 - while the crimes before 1980 narrowly fell under the statute of limitations.

Indeed, the main headline of this is that this is the first time ever we have a former PM sent to trial. Like I said, the DA will appeal and this appeal will take a long time, the media was saying around 1-2 years, so a lot of time.

[Mike88]

José Sócrates, Ricardo Salgado, Carlos Santos Silva and 2 others will go to trial on just 17 crimes out of 189 proposed by the DA office:

https://twitter.com/Publico/status/1380584095231709187

Of the 189 crimes of Operation Marquis, only 17 go to trial.

Judge Ivo Rosa ruling on who will go to trial and by which crimes is controversial and dividing opinions. Just 17 crimes out of the 189 the DA accused 28 people/companies were accepted by the judge and will go to trial. Former PM José Sócrates will go to trial for money laundering, forgery of documents, alongside his "best friend" Carlos Santos Silva. Former BES bank chairman Ricardo Salgado, will go to trial for 3 crimes of abuse of trust, and former PS minister, Armando Vara, which is serving currently a jail sentence for other crimes, will also go to trial for money laundering. José Sócrates chauffeur, João Perna, will also go to trial but for illegal gun possession. Sócrates corruption accusations were all dropped as they have already prescribed, but the judge said that it is clear that Sócrates sold his position as Prime Minister for money. Like I wrote above, the DA will appeal to the Relação Courts.

Finally, this image sums up the day:

After the ruling session, José Socrates went to a cafe terrace to dine and drink beer and, of course, CMTV was there and Sócrates was trashed by the reporter because there were 5 people on the table and there's a 4 people rule in terrace tables because of the pandemic. Sócrates drank his beer and didn't respond to the reporter.
 

Priceless.