“A New Future” is the title of the global orientation motion for the future of the PS-Azores that Francisco César is presenting today in Ponta Delgada after having formalized his candidacy for the party’s leadership, supported by more than 400 signatures. The direct elections take place on June 28 and 29.
Delivering his motion to the Regional Jurisdiction Commission, Francisco César, currently a member of the Portuguese Parliament, said that the future he wants for the Azorean Socialists is based on three “fundamental” pillars: education for all, transparency and freedom, and a solid economic development component.
The candidate advocates “a new, diversified, open and sustainable economic model” that should bring together “our differentiating factors and focus on creating value in traditional sectors, such as agriculture, fisheries and tourism, and in the new economies of the sea, digital, decarbonization and the energy transition.”
On the occasion, Francisco César emphasized the importance of human dignity and social justice. “We are the party that believes that our community will only be complete when there is true dignity for human beings: dignity in access to work, income, old age, housing and health,” he said.
In the Assembly of the Republic, Francisco César is vice-president of the Socialist bench. He is a trained economist and PS leader. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores and chaired the PS-Açores bench between 2019 and 2020.

A LOT TO DO
The PS-Açores lost regional power in 2020 after 24 years of leading the region’s destiny. Previously, the PSD-Azores had been in charge of regional governance for 20 years.
The Socialists lost the recent European elections in the Azores, winning 32.3 percent of the vote, against 38.4 percent for the AD (Democratic Alliance).
At the national level, the PS won 32.1 percent of the vote against 31.1 percent for the AD, which means a minimal difference.
According to information from within the PS-Azores, the party is showing signs of disorganization, acting in an apparently uncoordinated manner.
One example is the work of the deputies. “There is no common thread; there is no memory… And an aggressive and destructive discourse has taken hold in parliament that the Azoreans don’t like,” said a source who knows the PS-Azores well from the inside.
Several socialists fear that the party will follow the path of the PSD-Azores after its defeat in 1996.
“They got completely disoriented, started fighting with each other, shot themselves in the foot, had little to propose to the Azoreans and stayed in opposition for a quarter of a century,” said one retired member of the PS-Azores.

in Diário Insular-José Lourenço, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks FLAD (Luso-American Development Foundation) for sponsoring PBBI-Fresno State, including NOVIDADES.