NÓS VISTOS POR ELES: A avaria da geringonça vista pela Economist ou de como a relevância da irrelevância pode voltar a ser irrelevante

«In Europe, parties can be tiny but still influential. Christian Democrats found themselves supporting decidedly unChristian ideals due to panic about those to their right. Crackdowns on asylum-seekers and cuts to welfare budgets were triggered by parties that mustered barely a tenth of the vote. The same logic works for the far left. In an age of fragmentation, any party that can win even 5% of the vote becomes relevant. Take Portugal. Antonio Costa, the Socialist but still centre-left prime minister, relied on both the Portuguese Communist Party and the Left Bloc to remain in office.

Parties do not always use this power well. The communists voted against Mr Costa’s budget, leaving elections likely early next year. It was an odd decision. The budget was stuffed with lefty spending pledges, such as increased pensions and free child care. Now the leftist parties face losses in an election, the polls suggest. Such cock-ups are common. In the Czech Republic, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia opted to support Andrej Babis, a billionaire, as prime minister. Three years later, the party was kicked out of parliament for the first time since 1948.»

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