By mid-afternoon, the approval of a new immigration law with votes from PSD, CDS-PP, Chega, IL, and JPP dominated the local election campaigns of leaders on the road, including the president of PSD and Prime Minister.
Before the parliamentary vote, Luís Montenegro did not confirm any agreement with Chega, which had previously demanded a provision conditioning social benefits access to immigrants with five years or more of Social Security contributions as a condition for supporting the bill.
Montenegro chose to highlight that, in the new version of the law, the benefits “are for the people” and emphasized that there was “dialogue with everyone” and proposals from both PS and Chega were approved, considering it “a sign of the times” that they voted differently on the bill.
During a campaign event in Lisbon, the Social Democratic leader seized the opportunity to criticize the PS by stating that shantytowns and slum areas have mainly reemerged in socialist and communist municipalities, arguing that social-democratic mayors “do not stand idly by” in the face of this issue.
“These candidates we have here are not those who stand by and watch the resurgence of shantytown clusters. There should be no hesitation in speaking the truth: of shantytowns and slum areas,” Montenegro stated during a lunch with candidates for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area municipalities.
PS Secretary-General José Luís Carneiro responded mid-afternoon in Faro, considering Montenegro’s remarks to reveal a “great inhumanity” and questioning whether the prime minister is aware that these are predominantly arising on state-owned land.
“I found it a statement, as is often the case, of great inhumanity, because Dr. Luís Montenegro should know that the people who left Lisbon, many due to the lack of housing response, due to the lack of living conditions, have increased the number of homeless people, and many sought their answer in the peripheries of Lisbon, which is a response with great indignity,” stated the socialist leader, later questioning, “Does Dr. Luís Montenegro, by chance, realize that a significant portion where more shantytowns are emerging is on state land and housing institute property?”
With Chega’s leader absent on the first day of campaigning, Livre’s spokesperson was in Lagos, appealing to the President of the Republic for a political veto of the new immigration law version, rejecting any notion of treating immigrants “like appliances.”
“Here we appeal to the President of the Republic for a political veto due to a profound divergence regarding the developmental path for the country: the country will only have harmonious development if it knows how to value those who work,” said Rui Tavares in Lagos, Faro district.
CDS-PP President Nuno Melo was campaigning in the Sintra municipality, setting the centrist candidacy’s goal of reelecting a councilor, even as the party runs without a coalition with PSD, as was the case in 2021.
Nuno Melo, on the other hand, rejected any constitutional issues with the new immigration law approved in parliament at lunchtime and dismissed any concessions to Chega, stressing that what is proposed “has always been” the centrist position.
Other party leaders, particularly from CDU, were still initiating campaign activities mid-afternoon, mainly due to the plenary session that ended a few hours earlier.
