Home furnishings giant Ikea recently placed billboards in Portugal advertising a self-assembly bookcase, with a wink at the country\u2019s political upheaval. \u201cA good place to stash books. Or to stash 75,800 euros,\u201d it said. That\u2019s the amount of cash, equivalent to USD 82,000, police found stuffed in envelopes on bookshelves when they searched the office of the prime minister\u2019s chief of staff last year during a corruption investigation.<\/p>\n
The discovery triggered a scandal that brought down the government and led to an early general election on Sunday. Corruption is a high-profile issue in the election after the cases \u201ccaused a lot of public dismay,\u201d said Paula Espirito Santo, an associate professor at the University of Lisbon\u2019s Superior Institute for Social and Political Sciences. The outrage could give further momentum to a rightward drift in European politics as a radical right populist party benefits from disenchantment with mainstream political parties.<\/p>\n
Similar trends gripped neighbouring Spain and France. Portugal\u2019s centre-left Socialist Party and centre-right Social Democratic Party have alternated in power for decades. They are expected to collect most of the 10.8 million potential votes this time. But both are tainted by charges of graft and cronyism. The election is taking place because Socialist leader Antonio Costa resigned after eight years as prime minister amid the corruption investigation. He hasn\u2019t been accused of any crime.<\/p>\n
Also, a Lisbon court recently decided that a former Socialist prime minister should stand trial for corruption. Prosecutors accuse Jos\u00e9 S\u00f3crates, prime minister between 2005-2011, of pocketing around 34 million euros (USD 37 million) from graft, fraud and money laundering during his time in power. The Social Democratic Party is not unblemished, either. A recent graft investigation in Portugal\u2019s Madeira Islands triggered the resignation of two prominent Social Democrat officials.<\/p>\n
The scandal erupted on the same day the party unveiled an anti-corruption billboard in Lisbon that said, \u201cIt can\u2019t go on like this.\u201d Yet Portugal\u2019s malaise runs deeper than corruption. Despite tens of billions of euros in European Union development aid in recent decades, it remains one of Western Europe\u2019s poorest countries. In 2022, the average monthly wage before tax was around 1,400 euros (USD 1,500) \u2013 barely enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon as prices have shot up amid a housing crisis.<\/p>\n
Close to 3 million Portuguese workers earn less than 1,000 euros (USD 1,085) a month. The average old-age pension is around 500 euros (USD 543) a month. Hardship has grown due to a surge in inflation. The frustrations have come into sharper focus because the election roughly coincides with the 50th anniversary next month of the Carnation Revolution. That army coup swept away Ant\u00f3nio Salazar\u2019s right-wing dictatorship, which had kept the country in shackles for four decades, and introduced a democratic system of government.<\/p>\n
The landmark event is a powerful symbol of hope in Portugal. In the opinion of many left-leaning people, its lofty ideals have been replaced by grubby political interests. \u201cI\u2019m a bit disillusioned, of course. I think we\u2019re all going through a period of disillusionment . We believed in something,\u201d said Osvaldo Sousa, an opera singer at Lisbon\u2019s Sao Carlos theater who as a 20-year-old student witnessed tanks and troops in the streets on April 25, 1974.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur dreams came up short,\u201d he said at his apartment in the capital\u2019s suburbs, pointing to current difficulties with housing and public health care. Even more frustrating for people like Sousa is that a radical right party could now have access to power through the ballot box. The Chega (Enough) party may end up in the role of kingmaker if, as expected, the main parties need the support of smaller rivals to form a government.<\/p>\n
Just five years old, Chega collected its first seat in Portugal\u2019s 230-seat Parliament in 2019. That jumped to 12 seats in 2022, and polls suggest it could more than double that number this time. Party leader Andr\u00e9 Ventura is tapping the public disenchantment. \u201cFor 50 years the Portuguese have voted for the same parties and nothing\u2019s changed,\u201d he said recently. Ventura has forged friendly relations with Matteo Salvini, Italy\u2019s deputy prime minister and head of the populist, right-wing League party, and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.<\/p>\n
Like them, he prefers the EU to be a grouping of sovereign states with no federal obligations. He also wants tighter controls on immigration. Ventura has indicated he is prepared to drop some of Chega\u2019s more controversial proposals, such as chemical castration for some sex offenders, if that opens the door to a governing alliance with other right-of-center parties. He has made use of social media to reach younger voters.<\/p>\n
One is 21-year-old Carolina Pereira, who said she had to drop out of university because she couldn\u2019t afford to continue. Now she can\u2019t find a job as the work available pays badly, and young people from her city of Almada near Lisbon are seeking work abroad. \u201cI identify (with Ventura) because I want things to change,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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