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The impasse in the Azores is about to end. Or, perhaps, start a longer and more unpredictable one. André Ventura got tired of the PSD’s lack of definition and, since Rui Rio is not committing to move forward with a constitutional revision proposal, should order Chega / Açores to vote against the PSD / CDS / PPM coalition government, according to Expresso.
In recent days, the PSD and Chega delegations have been in contact, but José Manuel Bolieiro, leader of the Social Democrats in the autonomous community, couldn’t control Ventura’s lawsuits. Furthermore, the Azorean leader also could not convince Rio (which has always used regional autonomy to justify detachment from business rounds) to play a role in a new visit to the fundamental law.
This Wednesday, the delegations of the two parties spoke again. Bolieiro left the meeting in charge of looking for some way to meet Ventura’s specificationsBut what has been asked of you is beyond your sphere of decision. Until the time of publication of this article, they assured Expresso on Chega’s side that they had no feedback.
Asked about the Chega / Açores requirements to be added to Ventura’s specifications, the Chega regional leader refuses to give details, considering that it is more appropriate from an institutional point of view that they only be made public after the meeting with the representative of the Republic for the Azores, scheduled for Friday. “I am not going to reveal details right now, they are subjects that deserve modesty,” he underlines.
The radical right-wing party interprets silence as a “no” to their demands and, in a risky move, decides to break. He does not even care about the possibility of being blamed for keeping Vasco Cordeiro at the head of the Regional Government. “I heard this for many months, that Chega would be responsible for the PS to perpetuate itself in power, also over Republic, but our values are these,” Ventura assured Expresso on Tuesday. Ungovernability or chaos doesn’t scare you. And the script of the next electoral acts is given: “Sooner or later we will win. Until then, we must remain firm in our convictions.”
Now, in addition to regional demands (such as the audit of the PS governments’ management or the creation of a plan to combat corruption, which the PSD would follow without problems) Ventura wanted the regional results to acquire a national dimension. I like? “Linking” Rio to an initiative of Chega in the Assembly of the Republic. The methodology would even be left to the discretion of the Social Democratic leader, who could “present proposals to alter Chega’s projects” until November 9 or sign an agreement with an alternative calendar agreed between the two parties.
In Lisbon, the PSD solved the problem. Adão Silva, leader of the “orange” bench, told Lusa that the party will continue with its own project, although “later” and not in the wake of Chega, whose initiative may even be in a water bath, if confirmed by the President of the Republic declares a new state of emergency. It was of no use in a discreet meeting that the two leaders held in Parliament last week, which the official source of the Social Democrats denies (suggests, ironically, that Rio was meeting with Ventura in plenary session), but that Ventura was not denies.. In the middle, the PS, through José Luís Carneiro and Ana Catarina Mendes, challenged Rio to clarify his position, suggesting that Chega’s “political normalization” would constitute a threat to democracy.
The “hardening” of Chega’s leaders
Even if he even admitted to dropping some of his more controversial flags, such as the chemical castration of pedophiles, Ventura does not dispense with a reform of the political system that provides for the “reduction of the number of deputies”. “Without this, there will be no agreement” in the Azores, he warned this Tuesday, even in the face of the threat of insular rebellion in the party.
The Chega / Açores leader said he would support the first version of the right-wing ‘gimmick’, but Ventura soon tried to make sense of it, setting aside scenarios of revolt that would allow Bolieiro to fish in foreign seas, a hypothesis known to the social democrat. Expresso, keep it open. Resigned, Carlos Furtado would later de-dramatize Expresso the slap on the wrist he had taken earlier in the week. “There is no disagreement on my part with the party president,” he guaranteed.
Already Ventura is not afraid of marriages of convenience between the two deputies elected by Chega and the PSD: “It would not be admissible, it would be a serious violation of the party’s guidelines.”. In fact, the president of Chega / Açores has already mentioned it today [terça-feira], says that Chega has to be coordinated and that he does not speak with several voices. “If that happened, would it take away their political confidence? Ventura is categorical and makes a (very small) veiled threat:” They, like anyone else, clash with what the party represents. Either we know our identity and our DNA or we will become a crutch of the regime. “
The break on the right brings everything back to where it started. Vasco Cordeiro, who won the elections, should be the first to be invited to form a government, although only BE’s votes were guaranteed. On Friday morning, the representative of the Republic begins to listen to the parties with seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, starting with the PAN. The hearings end on Saturday, with the PS, the most voted party. With no stable solutions in sight, the hypothesis that the archipelago returns to the elections gains strength. Unless someone changes the barricade. Or say the unspoken.
