Survival mode - Warning to sailors!
As the legislative elections approach, an old instinct reawakens in Cape Verdean politics: "Modus Sobrevivência". This is the phase in which many politicians, especially MPs, frantically scramble to secure a place on the lists and save the perks of office.
For me it is something normal and I have nothing to oppose, if they prove to be worthy of this honor!
You can see that it's a choreographed movement in which many mediocre people who should never have been there, reappear in new guises, trying to present themselves as renewed, being ministers, directors, presidents of institutions and agencies, start to boast a sudden proximity to the electorate, combined with the emergence of candidacies for political coordination positions, not out of a spirit of mission, but to feed the mathematical probability of being on the lists and thus perpetuate themselves in power.
However, it is now well known that a large part of society no longer allows itself to be fooled, nor does it allow itself to be shined.
Everyone knows that there are MPs who should be excluded from political life, not just because of their lack of profile, but because of their posture and disrespect for ethics and parliamentary decorum.
Sometimes, many times, enough times, society does not reveal itself in its parliamentarians who tend to turn this legislative house into a cabaret of vanities, where the sale of egos and the exchange of gratuitous accusations, replaces serious debate, causing the people's trust in the institution to fade and the price of this degradation is paid by all of us.
We must always bear in mind that parties are not static entities, they need oxygen, renewal and the courage to reinvent themselves.
Instead of pressuring the leadership with backroom games, those who have already reached the "limit" of their contribution should have the humility and honor to step aside, recognizing that political wear and tear has a name and a surname.
The choice of who makes up the lists cannot be the result of internal pressure, but rather a careful, transparent process, capable of offering the electorate respectable and prepared names.
Being on a party's list - be it Mpd, Paicv or UCID - can never be seen as an automatic guarantee of votes, and the presence of certain figures is sometimes penalizing.
Today, more than ever, voters demand quality, credibility and competence and this is the only way to avoid a rise in abstention.
In the case of the MPD , which governs and aspires to remain in power, this screening is more urgent if it wants to emerge victorious from the legislative ballot.
Victory or defeat in 2026 will depend directly on the courage to promote a profound renewal, eliminating registrants, infiltrators, mediocrities and opportunists.
Politics should be a place of public service, not an easy job market where there is no competition or assessment of competence. It's unacceptable that some people see deputation as a job for life, feeding off the party and sometimes not even paying a membership fee.
Parties cannot continue to be "milk cows", where lazy people satiate their inadequacies and personal ambitions.
I speak with the authority of someone who was there. I was a member of the nation's parliament and, at the end of my term, I returned to my original post, giving way to another and retiring with dignity. I did this because I believe that politics should be transitory and that the position does not belong to us, but to the people who elect us.
It's time to reverse the logic and for parties to bet on the quality of their militants, their cadres and, at the same time, open up space for civil society and independents, people who can bring together new values, new ideas and new credibility and in this item I believe that the MPD will always be in the vanguard position.
At the end of the day, it's well known that it's not the party bosses who decide elections, nor the local structures (which help), because it's the people who decide, and they're largely oblivious to party militancy!
