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Abstract
The 2015 legislative elections in Portugal led to a major shift in the characteristics of the party system through the formation of a socialist minority government supported by the Left Block and the Portuguese Communist Party. This study examines the trajectory of the radical left in Portugal since the implementation of the 2011 EU–International Monetary Fund bailout and analyses the possible reasons for the parties becoming coalition partners. We argue that left–left cooperation is primarily explained by the impact of austerity policies – in particular the huge welfare state retrenchment – and party leadership interests. In addition, the study confirms the importance of centralisation and intra-party cohesion in establishing a new politics of alliance.
Notes
1. We accept the definition of ‘radical-left parties’ provided by Luke March (Citation2011), according to which this party family rejects the underlying socioeconomic structures, values and practices of contemporary capitalism and defends ‘root and branch’ transformation of capitalism in order to take power from existing political and economic elites.
2. The BE was formed in 1999 from two extreme-left parties, the Popular Democratic Union (UDP – União Democrática Popular) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (PSR – Partido Socialista Revolucionário), and the political movement Política XXI.
3. A €78 billion bailout programme was agreed on 3 May 2011 between the governing parties and the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The agreement included a long and detailed list of measures aiming to reduce the deficit.
4. The 2015 electoral manifesto was entitled ‘Por uma Política Patriótica e de Esquerda’ (For a patriotic and left-wing policy), which was also the main slogan used during the campaign.
5. On a scale from one (strongly opposed) to seven (strongly in favour), in 2014 the average placement for the PCP was 0.83, and for the BE 3.12, while the PS scored 6.37 (Bakker et al. Citation2015a).
6. We adopt a Sartorian definition of ‘polarisation’ which refers to the distance between parties along an ideological dimension (usually the left and right, or materialist versus post-materialist values). Polarisation can be measured at the elite or mass level.
7. For more details on the coding of variables and complete results see De Giorgi, Moury and Ruivo (Citation2015). The empirical analysis presented here is updated up to the end of 2014.
8. See, among others, the document ‘O Bloco e os caminhos da Esquerda’ [The Block and the roads of the Left] elaborated after the electoral defeat in 2011.
9. See ‘Debates 3-Romper com a austeridade’, IX Convention: http://www.bloco.org/media/debates_3_IX_CONVENCAO.pdf.
10. These are Plataforma Unitária (Unitary Platform), whose main leaders were Francisco Louçã, João Semedo and Catarina Martins, and Esquerda Alternativa (Alternative Left). The two tendencies signed an agreement in May 2015 in order to minimise internal disputes.
11. See Público, 30 November 2014: http://www.publico.pt/politica/noticia/joao-semedo-despedese-da-lideranca-do-bloco-continua-catarina-martins-1677984?page=-1.
12. See ‘Costa chumba governo de direita minoritário’, Expresso, 26 September 2015.
13. The CDU (Coligação Democrática Unitária – Unitary Democratic Coalition) is the electoral alliance established by the PCP and PEV (Partido d’os Verdes – Green Party) since 1991.
14. See, for instance, ‘Jobs for 140 boys. Concurso só para 11’, Expresso, 2 April 2016, p. 11.
15. ‘PS fará governo com independentes de esquerda’, Público, 28 October 2015.
16. While the BE favoured the establishment of multilateral working groups, the PCP has privileged bilateral negotiations with the PS. See ‘PS e Bloco escolhem 42 personalidades para os acordos à esquerda’, Público, 24 March 2016; ‘BE e PCP contradizem-se sobre formação de grupos de trabalho com Governo’, Público, 31 March 2016.
17. This minor party was able to elect one MP for the first time in the 2015 legislative elections. PAN rejected the right-wing coalition government and abstained on the confidence motion of Costa’s cabinet.
18. ‘Bloco, PCP e PS vão à manifestação em defesa da escola pública’, Público, 16 June 2016.
19. On this point see the interview with Jorge Costa, Expresso, 25 June 2016. The ‘rediscovering’ of social democracy was celebrated in the party conventions held by the PS (4–5 June 2016) and the BE (26 June 2016).
20. This was clear in the discourse adopted by some left-wing socialist leaders – such as Manuel Alegre – after the 2015 legislative elections. See: http://observador.pt/2015/10/07/costistas-preocupados-com-a-pasokizacao-do-ps/