The President of the Republic, Marcelo de Sousa, announced the dissolution of the Assembly and the convening of anticipated parliamentary elections, after the rejection of the bill of finance 2022 by the Parliament.
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Two years after the legislative elections which, in October 2019, renewed the Prime Minister Antonio Costa, the Portuguese will again be called to the polls on January 30th. Thus decided the President of the Republic, the Conservative Marcelo de Sousa, Thursday, November 4 in the evening, making use of the prerogatives which allow him to dissolve the assembly.
At the origin of his decision, the rejection of the bill of finance 2022 by the Parliament, on October 27, the fruit of the break between the Socialist Party and his ancient extreme left allies, who dropped the government. To justify the convening of new elections, the Chairman referred to the need to guarantee the institutional stability of the country, whereas “a decisive year” comes. “It’s not any budget” since it “should be used to get out of the crisis caused by the pandemic and manage European stimulus funds,” said the head of state at a television speech Pronounced at the Palais de Belem, its official residence. Nearly 16 billion euros of help are expected by 2026.
The failure of the vote of the state budget “has not been a rejection of circumstance, for minor but fundamental differences,” still argued Mr. de Sousa, stressing that he has “totally reduced The Government Support Base “.
Strategic Calculations
In fact, it marks the end of the alliance between left forces – La Geringonça, at work since 2015 in Portugal – which had turned the page of austerity. If for the Communist Party (PCP) and the Bloc (the Party of the Radical Left Blocko of Esquerda, BE), the Finance Law lacked ambition in social and payroll, for the PS, implement all requests from left parties were just not realistic. However, behind these political arguments, probably also hid strategic calculations.
After harvesting bad results in the Local September elections and last January presidential elections, “it is very likely that the CFP and the Bloc have interpreted this abandonment of their constituents as a sign that they are no longer considered as opposition, protest and discontent channels, Analysis José Santana Pereira, Professor of Political Science at the University of Lisbon. They might have decided that their long-term survival depends on a return to their traditional position, even though This means a short-term punishment from the electorate “.
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