“Don’t look like that. We are risen! ”. Hugo Soares, former parliamentary leader and right-hand man of Luis Montenegro, was elated. No wonder: during long hours of the election night, Rui Rio had virtually the first round victory in his hands. For six tenths, 344 votes, Espinho’s man managed to prevent Rio from resolving the issue as early as Saturday and gained another opportunity to defeat the incumbent leader. Montenegro’s political death has come close – it is the second time it attempts to overthrow Rio and is the second time it has failed. The same six tenths that stole the majority from Rio are the six tenths, the same 344 votes, which gave Montenegro an extra life.
Because, hand in hand with victory in these elections, that was what was at stake today: the end of a political course at this level. To Rio, right, but also to Montenegro. And it is not irrelevant that, early in the evening, Hugo Soares took advantage of the statements to SIC to remind that Pedro Passos Coelho also lost the first elections until finally reaching the leader. Against the backdrop of a defeat by the numbers already imagined on the table, it was important to counter the perception that Montenegro had run out of chances.
Montenegro goes to the fight once again and that is what he made a point of promising in the evening speech. At 12:03 am, when he entered the room of the Hotel Epic Sana, in Lisbon, the supporters sprang like springs and started shouting “PSD”, in stark contrast to the atmosphere of the former parliamentary leader’s headquarters. Apart from a tiny group of supporters who had always been at the bar and the convention of a well-known cosmetic brand, so far, there had been no life in the hotel. “How is it possible? This is terrible, ”heard the sound of many Montenegrists.
Hugo Soares when he knows that Rui Rio had not won first
TIAGO MIRANDA
The anatomy of a defeat
The truth is that Luis Montenegro’s candidacy failed in almost every account he made. He lost in the district of Aveiro, where he expected to win by over 600 votes and lost in Porto by over 1,400. It did not take off in Lisbon and Braga won by just over 300 votes when he expected a resounding victory. That is, in the four largest structures of the party, Montenegro lost two (by much) and had Pirro victories in the remaining. It ended up with less than 2,500 votes than Rui Rio. In the rest of the country, the trend was not much different. Where he won, he almost always won narrowly. And where you lost, you almost always lost a lot.
When he went up to the pulpit, Montenegro was a defeated man. And I didn’t hide it. In fact, he never hid it: he avoided the journalists on arrival at the hotel, entered the garage, was always in his room and, near midnight, warned through his advisers that he would not answer the questions.
He spoke for seven minutes to the 50 or so militants who accompanied him, some of them illustrious, such as Paula Teixeira da Cruz, Teresa Morais and Luís Campos Ferreira. Seven minutes in which he never acknowledged defeat and put into words the strategy he will try to fulfill this week: to pass the thesis that the alternative has won the official line, to convince Miguel Pinto Luz’s supporters (there were more than 2,500) to vote for him, build his allegiance and appeal to the nearly 9,000 who did not vote today.
Step one of this plan, “It was more the militants who voted for change than for continuity,” shot Espinho’s man. The simple logic: added the votes, were more that voted in Montenegro and Pinto Luz than those who voted in Rui Rio.
So step two: “Miguel Pinto Luz made a very positive contribution for his political quality, ideas and participation. If elected, I will count on him for the challenges we have to face, ”he made a point of underlining Montenegro for the first big round of applause of the night. An obvious wink.
Finally, step three: “Choose between the firm opposition strategy that I advocate or the continuation of the subordination strategy we have had so far.” One more criticism of Rui Rio and it is foreseeable that, with such a split party, the tone will harden. Montenegro thus hopes to keep the typhosi and mobilize those who stayed at home. Hence the challenge left at the very end of the speech: to have the opportunity to make one last and final debate with Rui Rio to clarify everything. This, even after having contributed to making more debate unfeasible during the campaign.
And so Montenegro said goodbye, who, after giving out hugs and kisses, set sail for the house. On the way, he evaded the journalists just in time to vaguely answer the question of whether he believed in victory on lap two. “Sure,” he shot. Next Saturday there is more.
Luís Montenegro believes he will win in the second round
TIAGO MIRANDA
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