Portugese elections

[blake 3:17]

The left centrist Socialist Party won but is in a minority position. After the Reuters article is a link to International Viewpoint/Left Bloc*'s statement.

Reuters:

FACTBOX-Portugal's new government: next steps

Mon Sep 28, 2009 7:08am EDT
Sept 28 (Reuters) - Portuguese Socialist Prime Minister Jose Socrates won a second term in a general election on Sunday but his centre-left party lost its absolute majority in parliament.
That leaves him having to opt to rule alone in a minority government, form a coalition, or negotiate in parliament.

Below is a summary of the next steps required to form the new government:
*Until Oct. 7: announcement of results of voting by Portuguese citizens living overseas, who elect four members of Parliament.

*Oct. 7 to Oct. 17: President Anibal Cavaco Silva meets informally with the leaders of political parties to discuss the election results.

*Until Oct. 17: formal announcement of final results in Diario da Republica bulletin. Only after this date can Cavaco Silva invite the leader of the winning party to become prime minister and form government.

*Oct. 19 or 20: New parliament meets for the first time.

*Until Oct. 27: The new prime minister appoints ministers and presents government program for parliament to debate. The debate can last up to three days, and the program proposal is approved or can be rejected by an absolute majority of members of parliament.

*President Cavaco Silva cannot dissolve parliament and call snap elections in the first six months after the election (March 2010) nor in the final six months of his own mandate, which ends in March 2011.

*The timetable to form government will delay the presentation and parliamentary approval of the 2010 budget by several months. Usually approved by mid-December, the budget is not likely to be approved before April 2010.

*In the interim, ministries can each month spend the monthly amount allocated to them in the 2009 budget, with items suchs as civil service pay rises to be retro-actively allocated after the 2010 budget is approved.

(Reporting by Shrikesh Laxmidas; editing by Angus MacSwan)

From the Left:

The Left Bloc is the force that has had the biggest increase compared to 2005: more than half a million votes (557,109 in a country of just over 9 million voters), 192,679 more than in 2005, and from 5th to 4th biggest political force (3rd in a number of major cities). At the national level, the score went from 6.38% to 9.85% and the number of deputies has doubled from 8 to 16. In addition, while in 2005 the deputies elected came from Lisbon (4), Porto (2) and Setubal (2), this time we elected deputies in 9 of the 20 districts: 1 each in Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra, Leiria, Santarem and Faro; 1 more in Porto and in Lisbon. In all, 6 women and 10 men.
The Left Bloc will now weigh even more in Portuguese political life and in the upcoming struggles, in Parliament with its 16 deputies but also and especially in struggles, since we enjoy the confidence of more than half a million votes, the result of an intense campaign of continuous contact with workers and popular sectors and a clear anti-capitalist programme sectors with concrete alternative proposals to those of the Socialist Party and the PSD.
The three objectives the Bloc set for this campaign were all met:
1) to prevent a new absolute majority;
2) to increase the number of votes in relation to 2005;
3) to increase the number of deputies.
In Parliament, the Bloc and the CP have together 31 deputies, representing more than 18 % of the votes. Never has there been such a result to the left of the PS.
The Socialist Party, in a minority in Parliament, will be forced to choose between the proposals of the left, as we will present them arising out of our programme and our mandate — among others, repeal of the employment law, a tax on large fortunes to finance social security - or join the PP on the reactionary right.
After these elections. the political framework is more polarized, right and left. The political and social struggle will intensify in future months. And the Bloc is stronger than ever.

http://www.internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1724

*The Left Bloc is an amalgam of Maoist, Trotskyist and green parties. It has been very smart manouvering within the confines of parliamentary democracy.

[Coggeh]

Decent gains for the left bloc but I had higher hopes . Anyway its good to see their is a strong revolutionary left current in Portugal aswell as Die Linke In Germany and Syriza and the KKE in Greece .

[Pogue]

nothing much promising with the KKE tbh, greek comrades have told me they are very conservative.

[Spawn of Stalin]

Can anyone tell me a bit about the Portuguese SP? I have always been under the impression that they were hardcore reformists and social democrats, similar to the French SP and the Spanish SWP.

[Revy]

Can anyone tell me a bit about the Portuguese SP? I have always been under the impression that they were hardcore reformists and social democrats, similar to the French SP and the Spanish SWP.

You're right.
To add to the confusion, the Social Democratic Party there is conservative.

[YKTMX]

Nice to see Die Linke and the Left Bloc getting decent results and improving on their position. Does something to reverse the media meme that the Left is not "benefitting" from the crisis, at the very least.

[FSL]

nothing much promising with the KKE tbh, greek comrades have told me they are very conservative.


These comrades you mention must either be anarchist students or pro-EU reformists in that case. Despite what is often said by self-preclaimed revolutionaries here, KKE is the most popular leftist organization among workers in Greece, regularly forcing businesses to re-hire fired personnel or increase workers' wages.


Much more progressive than Die Linke that cheers for Israel any time it decides to massacre hundreds of people.

[blake 3:17]

I'd thought the Socialist Party had been more radical in the past, but from my few minutes of googling, I think I was mistaken. The Portugese revolution was a peculiar one. I'm perpetually shocked by the rightward drift of international social democracy.

Anyways, props to the Left Bloc!

[Saorsa]

These comrades you mention must either be anarchist students or pro-EU reformists in that case. Despite what is often said by self-preclaimed revolutionaries here, KKE is the most popular leftist organization among workers in Greece, regularly forcing businesses to re-hire fired personnel or increase workers' wages.The KKE referred to the popular uprising in Greece as a “a conspiracy well-organized by internal and foreign dark centers” (http://www.international.koel.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80:statement-nr-62009-new-attack-of-kkes-leadership-against-koe-12022009&catid=14:other-documents), and the KKE's General Secretary Papariga said in a speech to parliament on the 21st of December last year that "the genuine popular revolt will not smash even a single glass".

The success of the Left Bloc is excellent news, I hope we hear more like it.

[Mather]

nothing much promising with the KKE tbh, greek comrades have told me they are very conservative.


Correct, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) took the side of the state and the police during the December uprising.

The KKE are a wholly reformist outfit and are at best traditional social democrats.

[Mather]

Despite what is often said by self-preclaimed revolutionaries here, KKE is the most popular leftist organization among workers in Greece,


Being the largest or most popular 'leftist' organisation does not change the fact that the KKE is a social democratic reformist party, much like their sister parties, the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).

The KKE's party programme and it's actions both inside and outisde parliament are good indicators of the KKE's reformist nature.


regularly forcing businesses to re-hire fired personnel or increase workers' wages.

Trade unions do this as well, yet whilst most of us agree that a unionised workforce is a positive thing, none of us would say that trade unions are in any way revolutionary.

[FSL]

You seem to be a bit out of touch with greek reality.

Firstly, the "popular" uprising was hardly that popular. I don't know if you somehow witnessed millions in the streets, but in all honesty there couldn't be more than 2 thousand people. But fire looks very impressive on TV so I guess you could be fooled.

Secondly, acting that way manage to turn a kid being murdered to "lack of safety". Instead of the government even faking an effort to remove trigger-happy officers, there was talk of cameras being installed all over and the far-right party doubled its strength in the european elections.

Pretty much the same people that show up in most of the demonstrations to start the ritual-like hurling-rocks-at-the-police act before sprinting to the closest university were the ones doing the popular uprising. Supported by some over-excited memebrs of leftist groups and petty criminals who took advantage of the situation to loot shops.

And before someone tries to turn this against me, my main problem with what happened then is the sheer stupidity of it. It didn't help at all, it didn't even push one worker to at least a more progressive view. And how could it, since no workers had anything to do with it.
But wth, we had fun, burnt some cars, impressed some girls and called it a night. If that's not an uprising, then what is.

PS1 Forgot to congratulate the Portuguese cp for its performance.
PS2 I would enjoy it if the ones that studied the communist party's positions can point out the social-democratic elements in them.
Cheers

[Pogue]

You seem to be a bit out of touch with greek reality.

Firstly, the "popular" uprising was hardly that popular. I don't know if you somehow witnessed millions in the streets, but in all honesty there couldn't be more than 2 thousand people. But fire looks very impressive on TV so I guess you could be fooled.

Secondly, acting that way manage to turn a kid being murdered to "lack of safety". Instead of the government even faking an effort to remove trigger-happy officers, there was talk of cameras being installed all over and the far-right party doubled its strength in the european elections.

Pretty much the same people that show up in most of the demonstrations to start the ritual-like hurling-rocks-at-the-police act before sprinting to the closest university were the ones doing the popular uprising. Supported by some over-excited memebrs of leftist groups and petty criminals who took advantage of the situation to loot shops.

And before someone tries to turn this against me, my main problem with what happened then is the sheer stupidity of it. It didn't help at all, it didn't even push one worker to at least a more progressive view. And how could it, since no workers had anything to do with it.
But wth, we had fun, burnt some cars, impressed some girls and called it a night. If that's not an uprising, then what is.

PS1 Forgot to congratulate the Portuguese cp for its performance.
PS2 I would enjoy it if the ones that studied the communist party's positions can point out the social-democratic elements in them.
Cheers

send in the tanks eh!

[Revy]

I see how this became about Greece but perhaps all this should be split off. It seems ridiculous that a thread about Portuguese elections is now about the Greek left.

[FSL]

send in the tanks eh!


"And before someone tries to turn this against me"

Surprising!



the KKE is a social democratic reformist party, much like their sister parties, the French Communist Party (PCF) and the Communist Party USA (CPUSA).



The 3rd International stopped existing many decades ago. The french communist party along with the italian and spanish were the ones that started the eurocommunist trend in the 1960s resulting in the sad state they are today. No clue as to how they are "sister parties" to KKE.


And yes, not much here is really relevant to the portuguese elections, apologies.

[Luisrah]

Heh, I'm portuguese, and I tell you, the results were preetty good.

The ''socialist'' party (left-center-right winged, it depends on the days) lost it's absolute majority.
The social democrat party is very right wing and conservative. It's leader is actually semi-fascist.

The left bloc, is a somewhat degenerated trotskyist movement, that now includes lots of independents, but their numbers vary very much, sometimes they have good results, and sometimes they get horrible ones (they are usually the 5th political force)

The portuguese communist party got more votes, and that is a really good sign. For the past few years, the party has grown slowly but steadily, and it (and sometimes the left bloc party) are the only ones who really support the workers in their strikes and protests, staying along them and the unions.

But there are still elections to come (11th October) for the local administration (I don't know what you call it) and that is where the communist party has more strength.