Election Results: a Call to Action

By Kelly Hayes-Raitt
To understand the impact of this month’s local elections on foreign residents, OICV interviewed a former board member of Gazeta das Caldas. Dr. José Luiz de Almeida Silva was himself “an expatriate, immigrant, and refugee” in France during the Salazar dictatorship. Our discussion was via email using a translator app and quotes have been lightly edited.

OICV: Despite Chega’s powerful turnout in the national election last May, their local gains fell far below expectations. However, they tripled their vote share compared to four years ago. What will be the lasting impact of this party’s anti-immigrant stance at the local level? Is their disappointing performance in this election an indication of a negative reaction to Chega? Or should foreign residents be concerned about erosion of rights and security?
JLAS: All of this stems, in my opinion, from a trend observed internationally but which resonates nationally: a fear of the unknown represented by others with different habits, language, clothing, color, etc. [There is] a reaction to unfamiliarity [as well as] a difficulty to coexist with these new people.
Paradoxically, if it weren’t for these people, [we] wouldn’t live with the current comfort and efficiency because our declining national population is unwilling to perform the most degrading, dirty, or socially disregarded tasks. More developed countries that also lacked [workers] to perform less-skilled jobs often reacted similarly to the “invasion” of Portuguese. It is difficult to understand how an immigrant and colonizing people reacts in this way to immigrants and the formerly colonized, demonstrating irrationality fueled mostly by social media and word-of-mouth conversations.
Chega is largely a result of these perceptions which are felt by those excluded from traditional parties and by those who fall short of their desires for social affirmation due to their inability to understand the new economic, social, technological, and cultural challenges.
The extreme margins [between the national and local] elections are because local communities have little awareness of these parties. In national elections, it’s easy to reject “what we’ve come to” through a protest vote that punishes the representatives of the last 50 years, forgetting the previous 50 years (because most have no memory of it or don’t want to and vote for individuals who lack any experience or qualifications). But locally, it’s more difficult for [voters] to accept these [political] figures who are enticed by others or are opportunists looking to seize the moment.
Yes, I think foreign residents should be concerned about this erosion of rights, but there is also deep-rooted respect and admiration among the Portuguese people toward most foreigners that are not seen as new economic or social migrants. In other words, foreign residents also face discrimination based on their origin, with some being respected and admired, while others are frowned upon and excluded, despite the economic need society has for them.

OICV: How relevant were the debates about immigrant residency and citizenship in Oeste? Were local candidates discussing this topic?
JLAS: It was very limited. The discourse was limited to alleged accusations related to security and violence, often unproven and resulting from rumors or false interpretations of local events. I believe that most people are aware that without immigrants (especially those of modest means and more difficult backgrounds), many services and goods would not be guaranteed. Without temporary immigrants, the population would have shrunk substantially, and the country would have become economically unviable.

OICV: In general, how would you characterize the impact the election results may have on foreigners living in Oeste? What public opinion trends should foreign residents monitor?
JLAS: I think, and I’m probably being overly optimistic, that [the election] won’t have an impact, although there may be more organic reactions at the national level, given the power that this far-right has in Parliament.
However, I think there should be greater concern for new residents from more diverse countries and attention to their integration, avoiding the formation of ghettos like those found in Great Britain, France, Germany, etc.
New residents from wealthy countries who want to benefit from the favorable living conditions in Portugal should serve as mediators for the less privileged. They should not, as in other countries, stigmatize economic and social migrants. The behavior observed in many Portuguese émigrés in Europe and the United States is that they go to the dark side, fighting against new immigrants.

OICV: Would you like to add anything else?
JLAS: I would like to add that – while I am pessimistic in the short term, given the visible reactions from even those we didn’t expect – in the long term, the situation may improve if [people appreciate] that these outsiders make aging societies viable.

*Editing help Ana Bonavida