Local elections stir up trouble in the Socialist Party. Critics watch out

The first Socialist to disagree was former leader Pedro Nuno Santos, who used social media to warn of the risk of an ostrich-like party . "There has been no retraction from Chega; let's not bury our heads in the sand," he warned, pointing to the growth of André Ventura's party in the region, especially "in the country's largest metropolitan area—Lisbon—and in the district of Setúbal, where they are the second-largest political force in several municipalities: Loures and Odivelas, in the district of Lisbon; and Moita, Montijo, Palmela, Seixal, and Sesimbra, in the district of Setúbal."

Pedro Nuno and Duarte Cordeiro no longer have the almost umbilical bond they once had. They've drifted apart, but they remain on the same side in opposing Carneiro's critical interpretation of election night. " The PS didn't get a good result . The final result represents a very significant strength for the PSD, and that cannot, under any circumstances, mean a scenario in which the PS claims it got a good result because it didn't," he noted in a commentary on the Now channel.

He even used the same expression as the former leader when he dismissed Carneiro's responsibility, but warned that the PS must "become aware of the situation it finds itself in. Sticking our heads in the sand is not the solution."

Mariana Vieira da Silva also publicly highlighted, on Rádio Renascença , the PS's empty cup on election night, especially in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, where it lost influence. "The PS needs to have a message for these two areas as strong as the one that allowed it to win Viseu and recover Bragança, Coimbra, Évora, and Faro," she stated.

Another former Socialist leader, Pedro Adão Silva , wrote an article this Thursday highlighting the PS's "structural problem": "The loss of relevance among metropolitan voters." "When the winds aren't blowing favorably and times are tough, it's unwise to entertain an illusory discourse about reality, which, as we know, is quick to return at the first opportunity," he wrote.

And former Education Minister, Socialist João Costa , said on Rádio Observador that "the PS's initial reaction is dangerous." He also points to the same point made by Pedro Nuno Santos, who said that "there was an expectation of a terrible result" for the PS, "and that didn't happen, but we can't just look at the colors on the map." He added: "Chega won a great victory," he considered, pointing to the failure of "centrist parties, which isn't a recent failure; it begins with Thatcher and continues through Tony Blair, which was the crushing of the middle class, where there are people who work and are poor, and this generates discontent."

Local elections. "The Socialist Party's reaction is dangerous," warns João Costa

Mariana Vieira da Silva, the socialist who was once nominated for the Lisbon City Council, also said that it is necessary to understand why the party did not recover votes "where the president's assessment was not positive" — correctly referring to candidate Alexandra Leitão.

In his interview with Observador, Cordeiro goes further on the Lisbon issue—and here he doesn't point to Carneiro, but rather to his predecessor, Pedro Nuno Santos . He stated that he would have liked to see another candidate in the race and that the "then leader [Pedro Nuno] diverted " Marta Temido from that goal: "I felt that this work [in Lisbon] had been wasted . We were building a path."

The former mayor, Fernando Medina, was the most reserved in his analysis of Lisbon and, of this group, the one who deviated the least from the leadership's line. He accepted the general interpretation of a positive result for the Socialist Party, given the reality that the last legislative elections had introduced, but also stated clearly that "the Socialist Party didn't win , it lost the elections."

Medina himself was less calm in his assessment of the budget that the Socialist Party (PS) will implement. Not that he disagrees with the leader's decision—which he justifies by citing a general lack of understanding of a political crisis at this time, "the country doesn't need a political crisis"—but he completely dismisses the government's proposal, saying on SIC-Notícias that it is "impossible to execute" and "a virtual exercise." However, he also warns that the political reality has changed and that the PSD's "ally," the "preferred partner," is Chega—not the PS.