Spinumviva is a shadow for IL deal

“Good afternoon. My name is Rui Rocha.” The introduction seemed unusual, given that he was the leader of a party whose members had gathered there to listen, and it even provoked some laughter in the audience, but Rocha continued. “I was born in Angola. When I was five years old, my parents and I fled the war and came to Portugal.” The speech, given at an IL rally in Lisbon, continued with a little about the life of his family and Rocha himself. Some facts to remember: Rocha studied in Braga and became the best student in school; he worked, grew, earned the respect of his peers and was always chosen by the companies where he worked based on “merit”, never because he had done the “jotas” career or because he had a large contact list .

The message was clear and, although it was not specifically addressed to anyone, it could have had its final destination on Rua São Caetano à Lapa, where the PSD headquarters are located. Rocha summed it up like this: “We are not all the same”. And, as it is necessary to show that politicians are not all the same, Rocha now faces a difficulty: running a campaign in which he admits to governing alongside Montenegro, while at the same time being a fierce critic of the Spinumviva case. He needs to distance himself from the PSD while ensuring that he is available to join it — and guarantee that he will be “demanding” with Luís Montenegro, despite the fact that he did not meet any of the criteria that Rocha had established, before the political crisis, regarding Spinumviva.

It is not an easy exercise. The first step to ensure that there is some distance was the refusal to enter into a pre-electoral coalition with the PSD, despite, as Rocha revealed this week, having been the target of strong pressure from AD in this sense. “A pre-electoral coalition would serve the PSD to try to clean up its image of instability and bad governance. The IL does not agree with this and will ensure that, by being there, there will be good governance”, a prominent liberal source told Observador. And he concluded: “The IL did not form a pre-electoral coalition because it does not serve to clean up Montenegro’s image, nor does it serve to help the PSD. They needed the seriousness of the IL on loan”.

Although the IL did not “lend” this image of seriousness, it still tried to prevent the government from falling, approving Montenegro’s motion of confidence. Nothing happened. Now, already in the campaign, Rocha can only make the guarantees he keeps saying over and over again: even if he is — and he is — available to govern alongside Montenegro, with whom he said he would have to have a “conversation” about Spinumviva in the event of a post-election agreement, this does not mean he will whitewash the PSD.

That is why IL has been particularly committed to projecting an image of seriousness — not only of the party, but also of the candidate himself. On Sunday, Rocha listed the places where he studied and worked to show that he has a clean record: he worked his way up, earned his money, and owes no one any favors . In the meantime, he has adopted a new formulation: he even goes as far as to say that it is necessary for the parties, but also “leaders”, to present themselves to voters as they are.

In this campaign, this is the presentation that Rocha has tried to make. Starting with the meeting with his former teacher Lucinda, now 87 years old, at a school in Braga (Dona Maria II) that he attended. What the teacher had to say about Rocha consolidated the image of a serious, even proper man: “He was so proper that he was even annoying” , said Lucinda, remembering a student who was “the best” in the school and who even put his classmates “in line” (Rocha said that he would jump the school gate, but only to make sure he arrived on time). From academic success to academic success, he also had success in his professional life, as can be seen from the account he has been giving these days.

In recent days, the narrative has gained even more strength: leader Rocha wants to distinguish himself from leader Montenegro (and from the others, he assures, who “took the country to elections”, unlike the IL) and keeps repeating his brand: “Growing through my work, fighting for my children”. To journalists, he says that the IL does not participate in “backstage games and schemes”, that the party leaders have “a background outside of politics ” and are accountable “for their value, and not for their agendas and telephone contacts”.

For Montenegro and the AD, there is always a formula ready to fire: the IL “is not here to certify the behavior of others, but to change the behavior of others”. Whether that behavior is “ethical or political”: “We want to restore the dignity of institutions and change politics”. But this cannot be done without a number of obstacles — including that of memory.