A victory for Hillary Clinton might have been widely anticipated in Portugal and across the globe, but positions here had to be reassessed and the outlines of speeches congratulating the new American president rewritten as Donald Trump emerged victorious in Tuesday’s American presidential elections.
As would be normally expected following a major event, the most contained response to the election of Donald Trump came from the President’s office in Belém.
In a statement issued shortly after the results were announced, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “sent a message congratulating the President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, wishing him all the success in exercising the functions he has been called to perform by the American people.”
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also made reference to “the links of friendship that bind Portugal and the United States and the significant Portuguese and Portuguese-descendant communities resident in the country.”
He also expressed the hope that the new American President would provide continuity to the country’s great history and tradition of democracy.
The Portuguese President added that he hoped the “the long-standing alliance and friendship between the two countries, which goes back to the times of American independence would remain strong and that the new President not only respects, but welcomes, supports and attributes the Portuguese community in the country with its rightful importance.”
The ruling Socialist Party was much more guarded in its response.
“These presidential results should be looked at with extra caution. Donald Trump, the president-elect, throughout the campaign made comments leaning one way then to the other”, Socialist Party chairman Carlos César told journalists on Wednesday.
He added that “Trump’s victory speech does not coincide with most of what he said during campaign, so the focus is now clearly on his unpredictability as a leader.”
The Communist Party, which is an alliance partner with the Socialist Government, warned that Trump’s election could see “a deepening of America’s reactionary and aggressive foreign policy.”
A statement by the Communists further stressed the even greater importance to “fight for peace and combat the aggression of American imperialism.”
The ruling Socialists’ other alliance partner, the Left Bloc, shared similar views.
The Left Bloc’s Political Committee issued a statement to say the U.S. presidential result “is bad news for America and bad news for the world as it is a victory for the policy of hatred.”
The party further lamented that “hatred of equality, immigration and civil rights” emerged victorious as it represents the winning Republican candidate.
The Left Bloc also blamed Trump’s success on the failure of the Democrats to push Bernie Sanders through as their candidate.
The response from the Portuguese right was more muted and less outspoken.
“I greet the new President-elect of the United States, who deserves our respect as he was democratically elected by Americans”, said the former prime minister and Social Democrat leader Passos Coelho.
He did however express the hope that Trump would move away from some of his electoral campaign rhetoric, concluding that “perhaps things won’t go as bad as is feared.”
The rightist Christian Democrats, through leader Assunção Cristas called on the world to give Donald Trump time.
She also expressed her surprise at the result, recalling that polls had once again “failed” as they did with the Brexit vote.
Meanwhile, reaction on social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram by Portuguese celebrities and sports people was far more critical of the decision.
Sara Sampaio, one of the world’s leading top models, reacted to the news by posting: “Brexit and now this! Wow the world has gone bananas.”
Ticha Penicheiro, who is a four-time NBA All-Star, posted: “At a loss for words” underneath a photograph of Lady Liberty covering her face with her hands.
Table tennis player Tiago Apolonia, who was European gold medallist at the Baku Games last year, also revealed his consternation at the result, writing on Instagram: “From ‘Yes, We Can’ to ‘No, We Can’t’...understand how did he win! Women hate him, the world races hate him, clever reasonable people are against him, I open Instagram and everyone jokes about him, I open Facebook and everyone ridicules him...the World doesn’t like him! How the hell did he win these elections and be right now the President of one the most powerful countries in the World!?”