Portugal's anger over corruption and economy could benefit far-right party in election – WOODTV.com

LISBON, Portugal (`) — Home furnishings giant Ikea recently put up billboards in Portugal promoting a build-your-own bookshelf, with a wink at the country's political unrest. “A good place to keep books. Or to deposit 75,800 euros,” it said.

That's the amount of cash, the equivalent of $82,000, that police found in envelopes on bookshelves when they searched the office of the prime minister's chief of staff last year as part of a corruption investigation.

The discovery sparked a scandal that toppled the government and led to early parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Corruption is a major issue in the election after the cases “caused great public consternation,” said Paula Espirito Santo, an associate professor at the University of Lisbon's Superior Institute for Social and Political Sciences.

The outrage could give further impetus to a shift to the right in European politics, as a right-wing populist party benefits from disillusionment with established political parties. Similar trends affected the neighboring countries of Spain and France.

Portugal's center-left Socialist Party and center-right Social Democratic Party have alternated in power for decades. This time they are expected to receive most of the 10.8 million potential votes.

But both face allegations of bribery and nepotism.

The election comes as Socialist leader António Costa resigned after eight years as prime minister amid corruption investigations. He was not accused of any crime.

Additionally, a court in Lisbon recently ruled that a former socialist prime minister should stand trial for corruption. Prosecutors accuse José Sócrates, prime minister from 2005 to 2011, of pocketing around 34 million euros ($37 million) through bribery, fraud and money laundering during his time in office.

The Social Democratic Party is not flawless either.

A recent corruption investigation in the Portuguese Madeira Islands triggered the resignation of two prominent social democratic officials. The scandal erupted on the same day the party unveiled an anti-corruption poster in Lisbon that read: “It cannot go on like this.”

But Portugal's malaise goes deeper than corruption.

Despite tens of billions of euros in development aid from the European Union in recent decades, it remains one of the poorest countries in Western Europe.

In 2022, the average monthly wage before taxes was about 1,400 euros ($1,500) – barely enough to rent a one-bedroom apartment in Lisbon as prices have skyrocketed amid a housing crisis.

Nearly three million Portuguese workers earn less than 1,000 euros ($1,085) a month. The average old-age pension is around 500 euros per month. Due to the rise in inflation, the need has increased.

The frustrations have come into greater focus as the election roughly coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution next month. This military coup removed the right-wing dictatorship of António Salazar, which had held the country in shackles for four decades, and introduced a democratic system of government.

The groundbreaking event is a powerful symbol of hope in Portugal. According to many left-leaning people, their high ideals have been replaced by dirty political interests.

“I'm a bit disillusioned, of course. I think we're all going through a period of disillusionment…We believed in something,” said Osvaldo Sousa, an opera singer at Lisbon's Sao Carlos Theater who, as a 20-year-old student, observed tanks and troops in the streets on April 25, 1974.

“Our dreams have not been fulfilled,” he said from his apartment in a suburb of the capital, citing current difficulties in housing and public health care.

Even more frustrating for people like Sousa is that a right-wing party could now come to power through the ballot box.

The Chega Party (enough) could step into the role of kingmaker if, as expected, the main parties need the support of smaller rivals to form a government.

Chega is only five years old and won his first seat in the 230-seat Portuguese parliament in 2019. There are 12 seats in 2022, and polls suggest the number could more than double this time.

Party leader André Ventura is taking advantage of public disillusionment. “The Portuguese have been voting for the same parties for 50 years and nothing has changed,” he said recently.

Ventura has forged friendly ties with Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and leader of the populist, right-wing Lega party, and far-right French leader Marine Le Pen. Like them, he prefers that the EU be a union of sovereign states without federal obligations. He also wants stricter immigration controls.

Ventura has indicated he is willing to drop some of Chega's more controversial proposals, such as chemical castration of some sex offenders, if it opens the door to a governing alliance with other center-right parties.

He uses social media to reach younger voters. One of them is 21-year-old Carolina Pereira, who said she had to stop studying because she couldn't afford to continue.

Now she can't find a job because the work available is poorly paid and young people from her town of Almada, near Lisbon, are looking for work abroad.

“I identify (with Ventura) because I want things to change,” she said.

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` video journalist Helena Alves contributed to this report.

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