AD to win over farmers. PS reinforces call for useful vote

Let's start with Pedro Nuno Santos. The socialist leader kicked off the 10th day of his official campaign with a street party in Ajuda, Lisbon. Taking advantage of Hugo Montenegro's appearance the day before, journalists wanted to know whether the PS leader believes that there should continue to be scrutiny over the company created by Luís Montenegro and which has since been passed on to his two sons. But the PS leader's strategy in this final stretch of the campaign does not stop there. Pedro Nuno wants to use the remaining days to "give hope" to the electorate and show that the PS is a "sure change".

“That’s all I’ll be focusing on in the coming days, telling people that it really is possible to live better in Portugal and that they can trust us, not only in this context of uncertainty, but also to continue transforming the country, to increase wages, to increase pensions, to reduce the cost of living, to guarantee housing and to defend the NHS (…) By Sunday we have to be able to mobilise our people, give them hope, show them that it is possible to have a safe and positive change in Portugal led by the PS”, emphasised Pedro Nuno, before a lunch rally in Queluz, which included a speech by Basílio Horta. The mayor of Sintra stressed the “incompetence” that affects Luís Montenegro’s entire government and the “disgrace” that the CDS has become, calling for votes for the socialists.

On the Left Bloc side, Mariana Mortágua started the day by stating that the AD coalition (which could later be joined by the Liberal Initiative) wants to privatize the National Health Service and accused Minister Ana Paula Martins of incompetence.

“This is a very paradigmatic case of incompetence, arrogance and a mistaken view of the NHS (…) What the PSD has installed is a group of people close to the PSD in hospital management positions and, as it has no solution for the NHS, despite having promised to solve all the problems in 60 days, it now says it will hand over the health centres and hospitals to the private sector. And in 10 or 20 years, the private sector will have everything, will take over everything”, warned the Bloco coordinator. “They actively want to privatise the NHS, this is Ana Paula Martins’ greatest irresponsibility”, she added.

The PCP also criticized the minister who is leading the Vila Real campaign. “We are going backwards. We cannot go backwards in anything, but we cannot go backwards in health, and in maternal and child health it is even worse,” said Secretary General Paulo Raimundo, referring to the infant mortality figures.

The communist leader argued that only the NHS is capable of solving the problems, but that, he warned, “implies not having maternity hospitals closed and not having a shortage of doctors”. However, Raimundo recalled that the AD is not the only party responsible for the current state of health in the country. “These 11 months of government are accelerating the dismantling of the NHS, it is true, but the PS is partly responsible for the previous administration, particularly during the period of absolute majority”, he recalled.

Encouraged by the growth projections in these elections, Livre fired this Tuesday in the direction of the socialists, accusing the PS of having “more tactics than strategy” by keeping all options open and not clearly saying what it wants to do.

“I don’t understand exactly what the PS cares about at the moment. It seems that they want to keep all options open and, often, those who want to keep all options open end up not having any options because they don’t mobilise people, because when there is no clarity, people are not mobilised”, said Rui Tavares during a visit to the river beach of Constância, in the district of Santarém, where he warned about water problems.

In response to this criticism, Pedro Nuno Santos once again called for a useful vote. “What I know is that in order to achieve political change in Portugal, the PS needs to win the elections, and that is what we are focused on. Then, from the Parliament that results on May 18th, we will find solutions for stability”, said the socialist leader, recalling that the PS has proven itself in dialogue and in building lasting solutions, in an allusion to the geringonça. “But we will have to wait until May 18th to understand the conditions under which we can do so (…) We have an opportunity here to defeat the AD, let us not disperse the votes”, urged Pedro Nuno.

Closing the left-wing group, PAN (which officially claims to be neither left nor right), Inês Sousa Real began the 10th day of campaigning with a campaign action against bullfighting in Campo Pequeno, in Lisbon. The leader of the list for the capital accused the Secretary of State for Agriculture, João Moura, of “advocating the culture of violence against bulls and horses” for having attended and released images of a bullfighting show. She also took the opportunity to remind everyone that the party will insist on the proposal for a national referendum on the end of bullfighting in the country and wants the public money that currently finances these activities to be channeled towards the creation of the SNS Animal.

On the right, rice and still governance.

On the right, Luís Montenegro, acting Prime Minister and leader of the AD, dedicated part of the day, for the second time in this campaign, to agriculture. This time, he wore a checkered cap, in keeping with the theme. At a lunch in Benavente (Santarém), after a visit to the rice fields, the PSD president argued that “the greatest defenders of animals and the environment” are farmers.

“I don’t know anyone who loves animals more than farmers,” he said during his speech, in which he also promised to be an active voice in Europe in defending the sector and against bureaucracy.

At the same lunch, the Secretary of State for Agriculture, João Moura, used Maoist language to describe his Prime Minister as the “great helmsman” of the Government’s reconciliation with farmers, claiming that he had made the primary sector a priority.

“Today, with the leadership of Luís Montenegro, we have a reconciliation with agriculture and an opportunity for our national production. Our farmers deserve dignity, they deserve to have a profitable business activity that is attractive to young people,” said the minister, who is second on the list for Santarém. “Our Prime Minister is the great helmsman of this great project of friendship in relation to agriculture,” concluded João Moura.

The Liberal Initiative, a party that could be key to governance after the elections, visited Lisnave (in Setúbal). The possible agreement with the coalition that governed the country last year continues to be a topic. When questioned by journalists, the leader of the Liberals assured that he will be “very demanding” regarding programmatic and ethical issues if he joins hands with AD, and promised to demand the explanations he deems appropriate from Luís Montenegro regarding the family business.

“At this moment, there are elections, the Prime Minister will understand how to give the explanations he considers pertinent to the Portuguese people. The Portuguese people will speak out. I, at the right time, will demand the explanations I consider appropriate”, he assured, when asked about the fact that, in February, he defended that Luís Montenegro should apologize to the Portuguese people and get rid of Spinumviva.

In the Algarve, André Ventura anticipated that between AD and Chega the results next Sunday will be an “absolute majority”, but continued to defend that he believes in the victory of his own party. “Chega will win these elections. (…) Our conviction is the same, that we will win”, said Ventura, noting that the scenario of a victory for Luís Montenegro would be a “bad scenario for the country”, since the leader of the PSD “is ​​not qualified to be prime minister”.

Regarding the PSD-IL relationship, Ventura downplayed it: “The polls say that Chega and PSD will have an absolute majority in Parliament, that is clear (…) For us, Chega, it is not enough to have absolute numerical majorities, there must be majorities of integrity, there must be majorities of transparency. It does not matter that Chega and PSD will have an absolute majority, as they apparently will, according to all the polls. An absolute majority, in fact”, he stated.