Save politics!

This is the most difficult week for the country in recent years. In a country that has not been at war for fifty years, where the social state guarantees support to those in need, where security is fortunately one of the country’s promotional flags, the problems that arise are usually of political origin or concern on politicians.

We are in the midst of a political turmoil and the question we face is whether we are dealing with a political problem caused by the exercise of politics, and what it produces, or whether we are dealing with a political crisis which is caused by the exercise of judicial power. responsibility of the Public Prosecution Service, possibly abused.

In one case or another, the issue causes fear among ordinary citizens, because they realize that it is possible that a statement from the Public Prosecution Service to the press calls into question the head of the government without knowing a week later why… supposedly because there are telephone taps committing to resolve issues of great importance to the country and for which the country has an unequivocal mandate given by the Portuguese at the ballot box. It is baffling to the ordinary citizen that an issue sufficiently serious to involve the Prime Minister and dismiss the government is not analyzed, re-analyzed, reflected upon, and that, when the intervention stage is reached, there is no absolute certainties about what will happen will lead to compromises. Ordinary citizens are shocked by the lightness with which they enter the ‘Prime Minister’s house’, because they imagine what they would do in the house of the anonymous citizen. Ordinary citizens fear if a mayor is arrested for six days without being able to formalize any charges, as there have been cases of people being imprisoned for more than a year without charge.

Once here, the President of the Republic, without a clear answer from the Council of State, decides to dissolve a parliament with a majority that would guarantee the stability of the country for another three years and drag us into a governmental crisis that will never end. comes. view. It is not possible to predict when and what government we will have. The likelihood of a more stable solution being found on March 10 is a mirage. Of course, the current majority and the Prime Minister as leader could not guarantee unassailable stability in the government, and there was an unacceptable number of resignations from the government.

The Portuguese have abdicated their responsibility for preserving democracy, with increasing abstention in elections and the growing possibility for political movements at the extreme ends of the democratic exercise. This crisis has everything to increase this lack of responsibility. It is up to the central parties of democracy to take advantage of this campaign to show that they continue to offer a solution and that they are able to create answers, otherwise we will all be hostage to the will of minorities and extremists.

President of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra