Portugal
R for Revolt!
The Socialist Party won an overwhelming victory in the 1 October 1995 general election. We spoke to Francisco Louça, Revolutionary Socialist Party candidate in Lisbon.
• Why such an impressive Socialist Party victory? Francisco Louça: The [rightist] Social Democratic Party (PSD) had had an absolute majority in parliament for eleven years. This was the longest period of political stability since the revolution of 25 April 1974. This made possible not just a political re-alignment on the right, but the reorganisation of all the social structures which supported the government: industrialists, especially exporters, all those who have benefited from our adhesion to the European Common Market in 1986, civil servants, property owners and property Until 1990 the Portuguese economy was growing. This was the result of European Community financing, rising exports, a much more efficient tax-collection system, and a marked decline in social struggles, particularly in the number of strikes by manual workers. The recession which began in 1991 was at the root of the decline of the Social Democratic Party, which has continued ever since. The last four years have seen municipal and European electoral defeats for the PSD. The party apparatus was tired, and the party's hegemony called into question. Prime Minister Cavaco's decision not to stand in this last election was a fatal blow for the party. The Socialist Party (PS) was the largest of the opposition parties, with a constant 30% of votes, compared to 51% for the PSD. The Socialists were therefore the best placed to capture popular frustration with the government. They won • What were the themes of their campaign? The Socialists said that after all the scandals and the growing social tension, only they could guarantee stability. Their political and social proposals are very close to the right's traditional programme. They agree on the essentials: European policy (including defence of the Maastricht Treaty and the planned introduction of the single European currency), privatisation and social policy. The only new point in the Socialist Party's programme was a demagogic promise on the minimum wage for the poor and homeless.
• The Popular Party doubled its score, pushing the
Communist Party into fourth place. How? The Popular Party (PP) is the new name of the old CDS, the weakest of the right wing parties, and an organisation with direct relations with some of the former leaders of the dictatorship. The party used to win 12-14% of the vote, but this had declined to 4% in the 1980s, when the Social
Democratic Party began to win 51% of the vote. The new
Popular Party has won 9% of the vote. More than 4%, but a long way short of the CDS all-time record of 16%.
Having said this, the IP now attracts mainly urban, young and radical supporters, rather than the traditional rural support of the CDS. And this election was the first in which a right wing party dared axe its propaganda on security, policing, and foreigners. This was the first time questions like drug use became themes of political debate.
• The (Communist Party-dominated) Unitary
Democratic Coalition seems to have lost ground.
The Communist Party vote is slowly declining from 9-10% to
8-9%. They have preserved their strongholds in the major towns and the areas where there was a land reform. But their base electorate is growing older. Their decline from 17 to 15 deputies is also due to a tactical vote for the Socialist Party.
• And the Revolutionary Socialist Party?
We presented almost 350 candidates, right across the country. We tried to run a radical campaign, clearly marking our differences with the
Socialist Party over themes like the need for free education. We also talked about deaths in police custody over the last 15 years, women's rights, the rights of sexual minorities, antiracism, and work accidents
(Portugal has one of the worst rates of workplace injury in
Europe.
The difference between the PS and the PSR is the "R" of
Revolt and Revolution. And, at least in Portuguese, Demand.
Our campaign was a success, in that our meetings in Porto,
Coimbra, Lisbon and a number of other towns were larger, and the public younger, than in the last election. We won just over 40,000 votes, compared to
61,000 in 1991. In Lisbon we had 17,000 votes. We needed
20,000 to have a PSR deputy there. In Lisbon and a number of towns we are in fifth position, with strong scores among the young and in working class districts.
International Viewpoint n° 271 — November 1995 9