Morgade_en
In the high mountains of the region of Barroso, in Vila Real, a hodgepodge of villages hug the hillsides, where the settlements of Carvalhais, Criande, Morgade and Rebordelo stick out on one side of the Rabagão river dam.
These four villages form the parish of Morgade, where economic activity is primarily based around agriculture and livestock. The parish is currently threatened by proposals to reopen the Romano Mine. These plans not only include underground operations but the opening of an open-cast pit for at least 13 years of lithium extraction.
“We can’t let them destroy our villages and mountains, and our quality of life.” Armando (48) is Morgade born-and-bred and the spokesperson for the association Montalegre Com Vida [Keep Montalegre Alive], which led the actions that gave rise to the parish-wide boycott of the 2019 European elections and the 2021 presidential elections. As a result, in these elections the parish of Morgade had the highest levels of abstention in Portugal.
The reality was very different in the 2021 local elections: the strong influx of people was due to the return en masse of many of Morgade’s emigrants. “They paid for my brother to come back, he travelled by coach from France to vote”, recalls Armindo, a 68-year-old retired truck driver and civil construction worker.
Just over 190 people live in this parish where the echo of the church bell still marks the passing of time and cattle graze on extensive areas of common land. In the week, nearly half the population work in Montalegre, the closest town, and only come back to sleep. But at the weekend there are plenty of excuses to get together: dance soirées and impromptu singing in the Cerdeira café, the morning mass on Sundays, or Dona Ana Rosa’s famous meat stew in the Pinto café.
Despite the vivaciousness of the people in this small village and their attachment to the land, Morgade’s future is at risk—just like so many other villages in the Portuguese interior. Arminda, a 49-year-old livestock herder, sums it up—“Living here is only for those who, like me, want to look after goats and cows”.
> 95%
Morgade was the parish with the highest level of abstention in the 2019 European elections and in the 2021 presidential elections.
Source: Secretariat General Ministry of the Interior
“Abstaining was a protest vote, because the Government decided to grant the Montalegre lithium mine exploration without consulting with the public. If we had no voice then, we didn’t want one in the elections.”
Armando, 48 years old, teacher
288
Number of people registered on the electoral role in 2024.
Source: Secretariat General Ministry of the Interior
“I’ve never missed a vote since I was 18—except when we didn’t vote in protest. I won’t let others decide for me, although I have to say I’m undecided. I know in the next parliamentary elections I’ll vote for a party on the left, but which I don’t know. I’ve started to lose faith in system.”
António, 63 years old, farmer
“I have looked after livestock since I got married, 19 years ago. I have goats and cows. In recent years we have had to sell them cheap, while feed and diesel keeps going up… Farmers are the worst hit. Politicians are all the same! They only help those who don’t need it. The poor stay poor. Why vote?”
Arminda, 49 years old, livestock farmer
33%
Morgade has ten times more workers in agriculture and livestock than the national average (3%). That is 18 out of 55 workers.
Source: Census 2021
“I’m not interested in politics, they’re all grifters. I don’t trust them. I only decide to vote or not on the day, not before. They don’t pamphlet here, no politicians come. We are at world’s end.”
Ana Rosa, 69 years old, café owner
6:1
The ratio of old people (65 plus) to young people (14 and under). In Carvalhais, Criande, Morgade and Rebordelo—the four villages that make up the parish—, there are three times more old people than the national average (two old people for every young person).
Source: Census 2021
“I had six siblings growing up, my parents didn’t have anything and I had to make my own way. I went to London when I was 19. I met my husband there, I married him and lived there for 24 years. We came back six years ago, even though my husband didn’t want to. I like my country, I left to give my life a direction, to be able to buy a house, and come back.”
Teresa, 55 years old, nursery school bus monitor
“I lived in France for 52 years—I was in department number 78 and moved to 94. I went when I was 17 and came back in 2019. When I lived near Paris and things were going badly, I even voted for Le Pen, but I didn’t tell anyone. If I vote in the next parliamentary elections—I’m not sure I will—, I’ll vote for Chega. I like hearing André Ventura speak.”
Armindo, 68 years old, retired civil construction worker and truck driver
12
Number of people who lived abroad for at least a year and returned to Portugal between 2016 and 2021, equivalent to 6% of the population (195)
Source: Census 2021
“Here people depend on local power, they don’t make unbiased decisions. And emigrants come to vote, principally those who are in France. Those votes make a difference to the result.”
Armando, 48 years old, teacher
“When I lived in London, I never came here specifically to vote, but I was nearly always here to vote anyway. I don’t follow what happens in the country, but I see what happens in my parish. People don’t vote on what got done, but according to who they’re friends with. We need to change that. But how can we get it right? Who is the person to vote for to change things? How do you know who that is?”
Teresa, 55 years old, nursery school bus monitor
“Hear me out: two elections with high abstention out of protest. And then people I’ve never seen turn up to vote in the local elections… The lithium issue is stalled now, it might even stay that way forever. That way, people will vote.”
Adérito, 48 years old, butcher
“Here abstention isn’t a problem, people end up going to vote. There aren’t many of us, friendships, not competence, guide our voting habits. Portugal is a small fish in Europe, which is dominated by the rich countries. There is real abstention in those elections, people don’t care.”
António, 63 years old, farmer
Abel, 69 years old, retired banker
“The year we celebrate five decades of democracy, we have lower expectations for the future than in April 1974. Twenty per cent of the population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion; this should worry us. They wanted to put an end to the rich, when they should have sought to put an end to poverty.”
60%
More than half the people working in the parish are employees.
Source: Census 2021
“The biggest employers in the region are the municipal council, Santa Casa da Misericórdia, and the slaughterhouse—the only industry in the municipality. While the first wave of emigration brought in investment, the area has been damaged by the wave of people who have left in the last 20 years. There is no way to keep young people here. And with the mining exploration and depopulation, we can’t see any other future besides the parish disappearing.”
Abel, 69 years old, retired banker
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