Portugal update

9.30.00am GMT Tue 11th Mar 2008

Portugal flag

Last week I wrote about a new law in Portugal banning smaller political parties, I saw this and thought I would share it.

Portuguese Democracy Under Attack - a major blow was dealt to Portuguese pluralism when the Constitutional Court reinforced the anti-democratic Political Parties Act.

The Portuguese democracy had been under threat already since 2003, after the adoption of Act 2/2003 on political parties. With this law, various barriers were created to creation and existence of small political forces:

• Rules on financial transparency that are impossible to comply with and punishable with fines that are higher than the total annual budgets of small Portuguese parties;

• An increase of the number of signatures needed (7,500) in order to found a political party;

• Parties are obliged to present candidates for general elections or for a very high number of local councils (20% of all councils in the country), otherwise they will face forced dissolution;

• Tough restrictions on private financing to all political parties while not allowing public financing to small parties;

• All parties are obliged to have at least 5,000 members.

The compliance with this new law, of which the constitutional basis is highly questionable, was enforced last Monday by the Constitutional Court. This is a major attack on Portuguese democracy, but certainly not the last one, as more are being prepared: PS and PSD, the two biggest parties, are currently in negotiations to raise election thresholds for the national parliament and to create a winner-takes-all system for local elections. If these two measures are taken, even the current medium-size parties will soon disappear from the Portuguese politics.

Movimento Liberal Social finds it unacceptable and profoundly anti-democratic to link the legality of political parties to a high number of members. This high number can hardly be met by any new political group in a society like Portugal where social and political participation by the population is very low.

The recent enforcement by the Constitutional Court of the 5,000-member rule draws Portugal dangerously close to shady democracies such as Russia and Venezuela. It is incredible that the same generation which gave Portugal its current democracy 30 years ago is now dismantling it again.

If the current law remains in effect, the Portuguese democracy will have its pluralism reduced within 90 days (the time given by the Constitutional Court for parties to prove their membership numbers), and Portugal will find itself among the European countries with the lowest number of parties. The Portuguese political system, already moribund, will only deteriorate further. Of the 14 political parties in Portugal, 8 to 10 are currently under threat of forced dissolution and, with the exception of one party that is a merger of older parties, no party created after 1975 will likely survive. The list of parties facing forced dissolution includes parties that are currently represented in the national parliament, regional parliaments and local councils.