The political frameworks of the two countries have similarities and Portugal can draw lessons from what happens in Spain to prevent what could happen here, which requires reforms.
Spain and Portugal have been very similar in terms of political alternation, between the two main forces, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Parties (PSOE), on the left, and the Popular Party (PP), on the right. The similarities increased when, in the last elections, the PP received the most votes, but it was the PSOE, led by Pedro Sánchez, that managed to form a government, joining the nationalist and independentist parties to the left-wing parties, in a “contraption” very similar to the one that António Costa and the PS created it in Portugal, following the 2015 elections.
However, in Spain we have the issue of autonomies and, also, we saw the extremes grow earlier than in Portugal and we saw a marked polarization, with a tendency to deepen.
“The political polarization that is now taking place in the neighboring country can, in fact, be a kind of test tube for Portugal – with the necessary differences”, considers André Pereira Matos, professor of European Studies and vice-coordinator of the master’s degree in Studies on the Open University Europe. “Without a doubt, the PS and PSD, in Portugal, can observe these dynamics in Spain, in their counterparts, and assess whether it will be possible to replicate some of the strategies of the PSOE and the PP, respectively”, says Paulo Sande, professor at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and specialist in European affairs, sees four lessons that Portuguese politics can draw from what is happening in Spain.
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Tags: Portugal learn political polarization Spain
