Today, from 10 a.m., in Lisbon, what could be the last cabinet meeting of the government in full office will meet, given that next Tuesday, the parliament will debate a motion of confidence in the minority PSD/CDS-PP government, which is expected to fail, with the votes of the PS and Chega.
At 9 p.m., the PS party’s national political committee meets at its national headquarters, also in Lisbon, the day after a meeting on Sunday between the socialist leader, Pedro Nuno Santos, and the leaders of the district federations.
At the end, the leader of the PS Lisbon Urban Area Federation, Carla Tavares, said that the party “is absolutely cohesive” in managing the political crisis and challenged the government to withdraw the motion of confidence, emphasising that the Socialists have always said they would fail it.
Also on Sunday, the speaker of the Portuguese parliament, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, called for the government’s motion of confidence to be approved, in the name of the “national interest”.
André Ventura, leader of Chega, insisted that “there are no conditions” to validate the motion of confidence, and rejected support for any future government led by Luís Montenegro.
Today’s two meetings come after a weekend of accusations between the prime minister, the leader of the PSD, and the secretary-general of the PS, who blamed each other for the possibility of snap elections.
On Saturday, at a Women’s Day lunch in Maia, Porto, Montenegro said, ‘it seems to him that there is no alternative” to early elections, saying that it is his responsibility “to prevent Portugal from being a country shrouded in mud”.
Hours later, Pedro Nuno Santos responded in Lisbon and accused the prime minister of “being in the mud” into which he dragged the PSD, the government and now the country. And he warned that the right-wing government “can never have the confidence” of the Socialists.
On Sunday, PSD leader Miguel Pinto Luz once again blamed the PS for early elections, which neither the government nor the PSD wanted.
“Let us work is the appeal that the PSD is making today, let us govern, let us complete the programme with which we won elections in 2024,” he asked.
If a vote of confidence is rejected, the government will resign. Faced with this scenario, the president has already stated that 11 or 18 May is a possible date for holding early parliamentary elections as soon as possible.
The current political crisis began in February with the publication of an article by Correio da Manhã about Luís Montenegro’s family business, Spinumviva, which at the time was owned by his children and his wife, to whom he is married in community of acquisitions – and which passed this week only to their children – raising doubts about compliance with the regime of incompatibilities and impediments for holders of public and political office.
After more than two weeks of news – including Expresso’s report that Solverde was paying Spinumviva a monthly fee of €4,500 – two motions of censure against the government, by Chega and the PCP, both of which were rejected, and the PS’s announcement that it would present a commission of inquiry, the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, announced on 5 March that he would present a motion of confidence.
