With political scandal reverberating through Portugal’s corridors of power, prime minister Pedro Passos Coelho gave a confident television interview last night, saying he is very keen to “ask the Portuguese for a second opportunity” to run the country in the legislative elections due next year.
As commentators agree, the detention in jail earlier this week of former Socialist prime minister José Sócrates has been something of a “game changer”.
It is not so much a question of who is cleanest these days, but who is least tainted by the stench of corruption.
According to Correio da Manhã’s leader column on Friday, Passos Coelho is suddenly better placed than his Socialist counterpart António Costa – who had Sócrates’ support when he mounted an effective coup to win leadership of the Socialist party in September.
Talking on RTP last night, Passos Coelho skirted round the issue of politicians, government employees and bankers suddenly finding themselves implicated in high-profile crime cases.
“Justice has to do its job,” he said. “It is not up to politicians at this point to perturb the work of justice.”
Meantime, an unsettled Socialist party – still loathe to comment on the imprisonment of a former leader on suspicions of corruption, money-laundering and tax evasion – is about to begin its weekend party conference in Lisbon.
It is a situation that will “mark the conclave”, report newspapers, but for now words are being measured.
