Pedro Nuno Santos, former secretary-general of the Socialist Party, took to Facebook on Thursday to reflect on the municipal election results from last Sunday, October 12. He offered insights into the outcomes in several cities where the Socialist Party (PS) faced defeats, arguing that the “lack” of “agreements on the Left” was detrimental.
“In the aftermath of the municipal elections, a conclusion drawn by the Right, and among many within the PS, is that alliances with the Left are harmful to the PS. Those outside the PS believe this because they wish to maintain the political dominance of the Right. Others, within the PS, feel that to hold power, the PS must resemble the Right more,” Pedro Nuno Santos remarked, highlighting the issue. “But was the problem for the PS indeed the agreements on the Left? Or, rather, was the Right’s safeguard precisely the absence of Leftist agreements?” he questioned.
He further stated, “Contrary to what has been said, it was not the agreements with the Left that harmed the PS. It should be noted that we were only in coalitions in eight municipalities out of a total of 308! It was the lack of such agreements that harmed us.”
The former secretary-general provided examples of the election outcomes in cities like Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Sintra, and Vila Nova de Gaia. In Lisbon, Pedro Nuno Santos asserted, “If the PCP had agreed to join the coalition, Alexandra Leitão would be the current President of the Lisbon City Council (with João Ferreira as vice-president). The CDU had over 26,000 votes, and we lost by 20,000. Does anyone believe that those who voted for the coalition led by Alexandra Leitão would not have done so if João Ferreira joined her?”
Regarding Porto, the ex-socialist leader noted, “The PS lost by less than 2,000 votes. It would have sufficed to form an alliance with Livre to elect Manuel Pizarro as President instead of Pedro Duarte. Does anyone think we would have lost votes because of Livre?”
In Braga, “the PS lost by about 200 votes. An alliance with any of the three Left-wing parties would have secured a win for the PS.” In Sintra, “the PS lost by less than 4,000 votes, whereas the PCP alone garnered over 7,000,” and in Vila Nova de Gaia, “the PS lost by 7,000 votes. To our Left, more than 10,000 citizens voted.”
Presenting these figures, Pedro Nuno Santos argued that “these alliances were non-existent for various reasons. In some cases, we did not want them, and in others, the others did not. But one thing we can say with certainty: had these alliances been formed, the election night would have been very different, and today, the Right would be speaking more softly.”
He concluded, “The problem for the PS was not agreements with the Left; it was, at most, the lack of them. Let us not make life easier for the Right – which, incidentally, gained many dozens of councils by forming coalitions with parties further to the Right. No one discusses these coalitions.”
It is noteworthy that, in the municipal elections on Sunday, the PSD secured the highest number of municipal councils (136, some in coalition), including six of the country’s largest municipalities. They also achieved 1,447 out of over 3,000 parish councils, regaining leadership of the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities (ANMP) and the National Association of Parishes (ANAFRE).
