Struggle for control of Portugal’s center right drags on

Struggle for control of Portugal’s center right drags on

The main opposition failed to resolve a leadership tussle this weekend.

By PAUL AMES 1/12/20, 1:04 PM CET Updated 1/12/20, 2:48 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/rui-rio-luis-montenegro-struggle-for-control-of-portugals-center-right-drags-on/

LISBON — Portugal’s main opposition has failed to resolve a leadership tussle this weekend, setting up a run-off vote that underscores divisions within the center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD).

Current PSD leader Rui Rio came first in Saturday’s vote among 40,000 party members with 49.46 percent, falling just short of the 50 percent needed for outright victory.

The run-off vote will be held next weekend on January 18. Rio will face off against second-placed Luís Montenegro, a former PSD parliamentary leader, who scored 41.26 percent.

“We need just a little more effort, but we’ll get there,” Rio told supporters in Porto, the northern city where he has served as mayor for 12 years.

Montenegro triggered the challenge to Rio’s leadership after the PSD achieved its worst general election result in over three decades in last October's election, which was won by Prime Minister António Costa and his Socialist Party (PS).

The opposition’s continued disunity caps a good week for Costa. His minority government secured parliamentary approval of its 2020 budget on Friday with the abstention of the far-left and animal rights parties.

That vote was Costa’s first major legislative test since the end of a formal accord between PS, the Portuguese Communist Party and Left Bloc, which had underpinned his first term.

Compounding opposition discomfort, PSD lawmakers from the autonomous region of Madeira defied Rio to abstain on the budget, claiming it represents a good deal for their island.

Rio, who took charge of the PSD in 2018, has long complained that sniping from within the party has undermined his efforts to build an effective opposition. This is the second attempt to unseat him.

Montenegro, the PSD’s parliamentary spokesman during the last center-right government that was in office 2011-2015, resigned his seat in parliament shortly after Rio took charge of the party. He claimed the new leader was too conciliatory toward Costa’s administration.

Under Rio, the PSD has backed the Socialist government in areas such as EU funding, labor law reform and defense. He’s likely to continue that approach if re-elected.

“If we provide constructive opposition, I have no doubt we’ll regain the trust of the Portuguese people,” Rio told supporters early Sunday. “We’ll back proposals based on their merits, not their origin.”

Montenegro insists a more muscular opposition is needed to galvanize the center right ahead of nationwide municipal elections in 2021, likely the next significant electoral contest.

Although viewed as standing to the right of Rio, Montenegro also stresses the PSD’s centrist credentials. He’s ruled out an alliance with Enough!, a hard-right party whose leader broke away from the PSD and captured a single parliamentary seat in the October election.

“We have to have a moderate position that can mobilize people, not fall back on populism” Montenegro told TSF radio in a recent interview.

Enough! is just one recent breakaway from the PSD on Portugal’s fragmented right. A new free-market outfit, Liberal Initiative, also won its first seat in October’s election. Another called Alliance was founded by former Prime Minister Pedro Santana Lopes.

Authors:

Paul Ames