The prime minister since 2015 was reappointed for the third time, and his Socialist Party alone has the majority.
Lisbon
” This victory is a victory of humility, trust and responsibility Antonio Costa was sentenced on Sunday evening, after learning how successful he was in the Portuguese legislative elections. From the Socialist Party (PS) campaign headquarters in Lisbon, the outgoing prime minister spoke with confirmation of the person called to become the longest-serving tenant of the São Bento Palace, the official residence of the Portuguese head of government.
He came to power in 2015, thanks to the left-wing anti-austerity coalition, “geringonça”, which defeated the Social Democratic Party (PSD, centre-right) who came first in the elections, and was renewed in 2019 by negotiating again his left’s success this time , against all odds, in freeing himself from the claim to support the Communist Party (PCP) and the Left Bloc (BE).
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Costa himself, when he entered the Altis Hotel to watch election night, told reporters: The absolute majority is Unpredictable extreme scenario Finally, the Socialist Party received 41.68% of the vote and 117 deputies out of 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic, Portugal’s unicameral parliament. Its historic rival, the PSD, which all polls said its campaign dynamic on the elbow with the Socialists, lags far behind. , by 27.8% for 71 parliamentarians.
worrying victory
” This is the first time that a prime minister has moved from a minority government to an absolute majority. “,” notes Antonio Costa Pinto, at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon. Enough to exceed the expectations of a leader who nonetheless.” annoying optimism According to the description of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (PSD), with whom he has been coexisting smoothly since 2016.
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The victory is most worrisome as no campaign observer qualified Costa and the Socialist Party on favorable terms. On Friday, TSF Radio analysts are still confirming the character “wrong”socialist strategy. After looting against the Popular Congress and the European Union, who refused to vote on the budget, Costa demanded an outright majority of voters, an expression he had hitherto avoided as a taboo, and then ended the campaign by considering agreements with his troubled allies.
There was a beneficial vote on the left for Antonio Costa to remain Prime Minister
Rui Rio, Head of the PSD
The political world has an interpretation that remains consistent with the analyzes shared before the elections. We knew that 70% of left-wing voters were satisfied with geringonça Remember, Costa Pinto. So they would punish the party or parties they considered responsible for the estrangement. What may be surprising is the extent of this reaction. »An analysis elicits the clear conclusion to the head of the PSD list, whose political days seem numbered: “There was a beneficial vote on the left for Antonio Costa to remain Prime Minister Roy Rio said the night of his defeat,There was no such thing as the right to avoid it. »
This new surprise, after coming to power without winning the 2015 elections, is the first in Portugal. “At that time, he had no luck getting into the government “,” Estimated Octavio Losada Oliveira, Director of the WeeklyNovo Semanario He co-authored the autobiography of the Prime Minister. “Costa doesn’t have much of a vision for the country, but he is politically shrewd. He’s not a very passionate person, but he is a day manager and a great negotiator.»
pink wave
Born in 1961 to a feminist activist mother and a hard-line communist father, Antonio Costa became involved in socialist youth from the age of 14, hanging posters while the country was scrapping the Salazar dictatorship. A law graduate, he is above all a professional politician, who alternated ministerial responsibilities under Antonio Guterres and José Socrates, in the 1990s and 2000s, and in the Lisbon Municipality, of which he was president between 2007 and 2015. Textile conventions are already practiced on the left. Described by Professor Costa Pinto in‘Mainstream socialism’ “.
Antonio Costa also knew how to fight the main battles. Within the Guterres government, to impose itself on rival ministers, or on the Socialist Party, which wrested its power from the outgoing Secretary-General, accused of obtaining only one victory in the European elections of 2014″poucochinha “(” small “)facing the PSD.
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Now what will he do with the pink wave? “An absolute majority does not mean absolute power.Relax on Sunday evening. “He will be careful, and even if he does not need their support, he will try to dialogue right and left., translated by Professor Costa Pinto. His budget is already ready, the one rejected by the left and which he described as a programme. Minimum wages and pensions will increase smoothly, and income tax will fall for the poor. “For now, he didn’t really make history.Judgment on Losada Oliveira before the ballot.
Freed from permanent negotiations and the pressure of upcoming elections in which he should not contest, with the help of European windfall money, Costa now has his free hand to make his mark.
