André Ventura’s candidacy for the January 18 presidential elections has shaken up the political scene and is likely to influence the local elections on October 12.

It is well known that Chega’s greatest weakness is that it has no one else but Ventura, and Chega-Açores suffers from the same problem, with the omnipresent José Pacheco hindering Chega’s expansion.

It is in this sense that the local elections will be interesting, also here in the Azores, to gauge the signals that the electorate will give with a view to the next elections.

Anyone who walks the streets knows that there is growing dissatisfaction with the regional coalition’s governance, but Francisco César’s PS is not seen as the desired alternative either.

The signs seem clear, and the observation that seems most obvious in the public sphere is that many voters are no longer concerned with the quality of the candidates, but rather with the best way to show their discontent, preferably in the political force that protests the most and speaks the same language as the conversations in cafés.

For these voters, who are growing in number, voting for Ventura and Pacheco’s Chega is a vote of catharsis, anger, and revenge against the “old” parties that are failing to understand what is happening and insist on governing in the same way.

Mistakes and bad habits pile up one after another, as was the case just now in the last plenary session of the regional parliament, where Chega deputies gave the coalition benches a run for their money on two issues very poorly managed by Bolieiro’s team: the reduction of spending and public debt and the mess surrounding the transfer of the Lajedo complex to Santa Clara.

People are growing tired of this deterioration in regional politics, and the most basic reaction is to protest alongside those who are also protesting against the lack of creativity and profound reforms.

Local elections indeed differ from others, where parties are not at the center of each voter’s decision, but rather the credibility of the candidates, their degree of proximity, and personal appreciation within the local community.

Therefore, it will be interesting to follow the movement of voters on October 12: either they maintain the classic position of voting for the candidates they consider most suitable for their parishes and municipalities (these are the elections where there are more party vote transfers), or they throw tradition out the window and vote for Chega or independent groups, just to show their dissatisfaction with the parties in the system.

I don’t think the second option should be underestimated, as some incumbent candidates seem to believe, not least because it is no coincidence that Chega is running in all municipalities in the Azores, even with “imported” candidates, to capitalize on this widespread discontent.

The elections will therefore not be a walk in the park for the candidates of the region’s largest parties.

They will have to work hard, and many of them would certainly prefer not to have their respective leaders by their side.

Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: there are increasing signs of political decline, the protagonists are becoming weaker, and the language used, especially in parliament and in the public sphere, is even more degrading in its mediocrity.

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GOVERNING BY GROUPS – It is a classic form of governance anywhere, but more prevalent in the Azores: when you don’t have the capacity to decide or get things done, you create a working group!

I have lost count of the number of groups and committees appointed by the regional coalition to study countless issues, the most ridiculous being the appointment of working groups to examine studies that have already been done, such as the study on the expansion of the Pico runway or the maritime cargo transport service.

Last week, the Azores Government appointed two additional commissions: a Working Group on pests in the grape harvest and another to assess the future of the HDES. The first is to address the obvious issues, which winegrowers have been complaining about for several years, and the second is to delay the work on the HDES, which should have started in the first half of this year.

Other groups and commissions that wander around without any known results: Working Group to develop a pilot project for the four-day week; Two Working Groups to plan the rejuvenation and new models of work organization in the Regional Public Administration; Working Group to review and improve the functioning of the Commissions for the Deterrence of Drug Addiction; Working Group for the Inter-Island Ring Project (this one suggested to the Republic); Working Group to assess damage to the HDES; Working Group on Non-Living Marine Resources; Working Group to study a possible increase in deportees from the US; Working Group to study regulations on bullfighting with ropes; Working Group to review the POTRAA; Working Group to examine the role of the Child Caregiver; Working Group to study the housing stock in Santa Maria…

And it doesn’t end there. I won’t even mention the extensive list of committees. The working group on pests could also study this pest.

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GREED – Portuguese banks have been deceiving the population for over a decade, exchanging confidential information about interest rates, loans, and commissions among themselves to collude on prices.

The scam was uncovered by the Competition Authority, and the courts fined the banks a substantial €225 million, which was ultimately written off due to the lenient judicial system we have in this country.

The “banking cartel” was followed by the “distribution cartel,” another plague that deserved a Working Group, which also bet on price fixing and was fined €700 million, which should meet the same fate as the banks.

If the Portuguese state is the first to set an example of non-compliance with its citizens, where everything fails, it is no surprise that large private companies follow suit in the country of gentle customs.

Consumers, as always, are the ones who get screwed!

Osvaldo Cabral is an emeritus journalist with over 40 years of experience covering the Azores. He was the director of RTP-A (the public television station) and the Diário dos Açores newspaper. He is a regular columnist for many newspapers throughout the Azpres and the Diaspora.

NOVIDADES will feature occasional opinion pieces from various leading thinkers and writers in the Azores, providing the diaspora and those interested in the current state of the Azores with insight into the diverse opinions on some of the archipelago’s key issues.

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).

(This op-ed was published in Portuguese in the following newspapers: Açoriano Oriental, Diário Insular, Portuguese Times USA, LusoPresse Montreal)