Lisbon: tragedy as an electoral strategy

1 Since the Ascensor da Glória disaster, I have avoided writing about the issue, especially its political aspects. What happened seems too serious and dramatic to me to be used as a political argument. Unfortunately, after days of an absolutely deplorable campaign against Carlos Moedas, it becomes impossible for anyone in good conscience not to take a stand on the matter. The campaign began initially with the usual social media trolls, a legacy of Sócrates's infamous Corporate Chamber. But the shame that Carlos Moedas's opposition initially displayed (apparently, simply for fear of looking bad in the photo) quickly dissipated.

And, unfortunately, several media outlets seem more interested in pushing the narrative of a left-wing alliance with Lisbon City Council than in providing information. Early that day, several media outlets reproduced the Página 1 story, a mix of conspiracy theories and revenge journalism, that Carris had let the Lisbon elevator maintenance contract lapse, which was a lie. Later that day, news also spread that the current Carris administration was contracting and outsourcing the elevator maintenance. A lie. After all, it wasn't this administration that decided to outsource the contract, but rather the current company. A lie. All of this was circulated on social media, shared by the pages of the usual supporters of the Socialist Party and its allies, and used as an argument by commentators. All false, but all used to attack the current mayor.

Unfortunately, even after the frenzy of the first moments, where the frenzy of wanting to inform crossed with the revolt against the tragedy, the low-level campaign against Carlos Moedas not only did not calm down, but increased in tone.

It began with a video in which the mayor said his predecessor should resign because of Russiagate. Left-wing spin doctors quickly set the tone: Moedas was being held hostage by his words, and the theory spread far and wide.

It seems irrelevant that in the first case there was a proven error by the Mayor's Support Office, a body that, as the name suggests, reports to the Mayor, and in the second case, it's not even known whether there was any error by a public company with financial and administrative autonomy, whose shareholder is the Lisbon City Council. But apparently, for the socialists and their allies, as well as for many commentators and journalists, a politician's responsibility for the actions of their direct subordinates is equal to their responsibility for a company they don't run! And based on this lie, they've been attacking Carlos Moedas for days.

The latest "scandal" is the fact that the mayor, in an interview, mentioned Jorge Coelho. Carlos Moedas responded to a question comparing him to Jorge Coelho, speaking of him respectfully, but recalling the fact (widely documented, even on video) that there had been previous information about problems with the bridge. It wasn't Carlos Moedas who used Jorge Coelho's memory; it was all those who wanted to use him as an example to attack him. And they chose him precisely because he was, in fact, the only example they had available. Let's remember that there were no resignations after Pedrógão, even though the government was clearly at fault; there were no resignations after two people died in a train crash; there were no resignations after the car in which Eduardo Cabrita was speeding fatally struck a man. Unfortunately, the only honorable socialist to cite was, in fact, Jorge Coelho.

Moedas didn't insult or belittle him, stressing that he had been brave, but he couldn't help but state what was obvious: it was public knowledge that the bridge was in trouble; there was no sign of any problem with the Glória Funicular. Therefore, the foolishness of those who invoke Jorge Coelho to attack Moedas, only to be shocked when Moedas defended himself, is close to the level of those who use the deaths on the Glória Funicular to campaign.

2 This kind of attack on Carlos Moedas doesn't surprise me; it's been like this for four years. The Socialist Party never took kindly to the fact that he defeated António Costa's dauphin and dramatically interrupted the line of succession so well laid out by the former secretary-general. For a party as snobbish as the PS, an upstart like Moedas, who didn't attend Colégio Moderno or the Lisbon Faculty of Law, isn't even the son of some local industrialist, hasn't been in stores, and doesn't seem to like aprons, winning the Lisbon City Council from his crown prince was a mortal insult.

In addition to this, commentators and journalists also never accepted that someone from Beja, who built a career through hard work, who achieved political and professional success without having exchanged information with them at Pabe, without having bought them a drink at Snob, or exchanged a few words at Lux, would go against their judgments and win the elections.

But one would expect that, faced with a tragedy like the Ascensor da Glória, hatred for Carlos Moedas would be put aside for a moment. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. While Moedas was on the scene, alongside firefighters, first responders, and police officers, while he comforted families and made important decisions, the socialists and their comrades were fine-tuning their strategy to use the dead as an electoral weapon.

And herein lies the fundamental difference between Carlos Moedas and his opponents. For the left, the center of politics is narrative; for Moedas, the center of politics is working for the city. That's why Medina announced health centers he never built, and Moedas built 5 and is building 4 more. Medina promised daycare centers and schools he never built, and Moedas built 19 and is building 9 more. Medina talked about housing, Moedas made the largest investment ever in housing, delivering 2,700 more (of which 1,800 were abandoned due to years of socialist neglect) and supporting more than 1,200 families in paying their rent. Medina launched the Drainage Tunnel project, which never began, while Moedas started it.

This tragedy only served to further demonstrate what was already evident: the socialists, like many commentators and journalists, prefer a mayor who lives for the narrative, who never leaves television, and who frequents all the gilded salons. Fortunately, Moedas prefers to work, be with the people of Lisbon, and frequent cultural associations and social institutions. On the 12th, it will be up to the people of Lisbon to choose what they prefer.

Jurist