PAN’s regional spokesman in Madeira, Joaquim Sousa, decided to resign and withdraw from the party, insisting that he had condemned its leader, Inês de Sousa Real, whom he accused of promoting a “Stalinist purge”, don’t trust.
“I have made the decision to distance myself from the party, but not from the environmental cause. I will always remain an environmentalist,” said Joaquim Sousa in statements to Lusa, indicating that the decision was communicated on Thursday evening through a letter sent to the party’s national structures after the meeting of the National Political Commission.
In the letter, which Lusa had access to, the mayor announced that as of today he is no longer a regional spokesperson for the PAN and is also “part of the PAN”, justifying that it is “impossible to continue to collaborate with a spokesperson who sponsors coups in the local structures of the PAN, who promotes purges for crimes of opinion, who lies about the facts that arise in order to condition the actions of discordant members of the party.
“I cannot agree with so many normative illegalities committed by the national spokesperson, who uses and abuses the statutes at her discretion to fulfill her daydreams and personal revenge, with the aggravating factor that the regional body is useless because our decisions are ignored. our media has been hacked by your office, the choices are yours and ostensibly, on your recommendation, the Regional Political Commission has ceased to function,” the letter said.
The outgoing leader indicated that he made this decision because the “situation itself was drastic” and indicated that he has no “political confidence in Inês de Sousa Real and its Permanent Political Commission”.
“In conscience, I could not continue to follow the orders of Doctor Inês de Sousa Real. I prefer to leave, to have the civil and political freedom that I understand I should have, without having to worry about the hierarchies and disciplinary rules of parties like PAN, in which the spokesperson wants to control everything and everyone and limit everyone’s freedom,” he emphasized.
The party’s highest management body has suspended Joaquim Sousa
Joaquim Sousa recalled that he had asked for the resignation of the party’s national spokesperson on Thursday, claiming: “It was them or me.”
The party’s highest governing body decided on Thursday evening between congresses to suspend Madeira’s regional spokesperson with immediate effect and to open a disciplinary investigation for endangering “the good name” of the party.
When asked about this decision, the director said he had not been informed and that he was aware of it at the time, but believed the decision “had already been made”.
“They need me to leave because to sign the agreement with the PSD/Madeira they cannot go over the Madeira Regional Political Commission, and that is what they did,” he claimed, noting that the party in “a spiral of illegalities”. .
The outgoing spokesperson also opined that “it was just an obstacle in the path of Inês de Sousa Real and her friends”.
Joaquim Sousa said he took part in a meeting of the National Political Commission, where he answered questions from the party’s political commissars, but did not have the opportunity to hear the beginning or end of the meeting.
The outgoing leader, who joined the PAN in 2020, accused the PAN leader of having a “lack of character,” of “lying a lot,” and of carrying out a “Stalinist purge” that is “killing the ideology of the party.” .
“Politics is a space of farce, and Inês de Sousa Real frames this farce,” he criticized.
Regarding the accusations against him, Joaquim Sousa – who led the PAN candidacy for last Sunday’s elections, a list that was later amended – indicated that he had written a text explaining the reasons why he was not on the PAN would vote.
“After what I’ve been through, it’s absurd to think I would vote for PAN. I don’t feel bad at all for writing it,” he said.
Joaquim Sousa also regretted being dropped as a candidate for the elections, as Mónica Freitas became the head of the list “under completely illegal and anti-legal circumstances”.
The PAN chose a deputy in the regional elections on Sunday – won by the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, without an absolute majority – and signed a parliamentary influence agreement for the next four years.
Source: DN
