Finland’s results in the European election bucked a continent-wide trend of rising support for parties on the outer fringe of right-wing politics, with the Left Alliance and the National Coalition winning big at the expense of the nationalist Finns Party.
Leftist leader Li Andersson received more votes than any other candidate has ever received in a European election.
I haven’t totally lost hope yet.
Also it’s not like most people in the party don’t have good intentions, it’s mostly a problem of ineptitude, the unfortunate Portuguese tendency to “make it up as you go” and not being quite as strict as I am when it comes to Democratic principles of free and fair choice, openness and the nature of being a representative for others.
A broadenning of the kinds of people that end up leading the party and a replacing of the culture of self-deluded ignorant elitism at the top with one of openness might shift the politics of the party into a more aware and hence more representative and even more competent track.
If there is one thing I’ve concluded from my experience of living in multiple countries and even being involved in politics in some is that variety and some amount of flux are the best things to have in Democracy: it’s when people sit too long in places of power and surround themselves with others like them (or, worse, Yes men) that you get problems - there is no leadership that doesn’t turn to shit once it’s had a decade or two constantly at the top.
(Note that in this party at the moment the leadership is not a person, it’s a group. This was especially true during the time of Catarina who internally was very open and clear about only wanting to be a spokesperson, not “the boss”).
I very much doubt the culture of cronyism can be replaced by something more meritocratic (as that’s a general problem in Portuguese society rather than specific to that party), but merelly variety will at least lead to more ways of thinking about and approaching everything because more varied backgrouns bring more varied outlooks and approaches to figuring out how to achieve the kind of society people in that party generally want to have (even if they seldom know how to even start to get there).
