Socialist leaders linked to the right wing of the PS will meet on Sunday in Cantanhede, Coimbra district, to seek a common position regarding the election process for this party’s new Secretary General and Congress.
The direct elections to succeed António Costa as general secretary of the PS are scheduled for December 15 and 16 – at the same time as the election of the deputies – and the congress is scheduled for January 6 and 7.
The former Deputy Secretary General of the PS, the current Minister of the Interior, José Luís Carneiro, has already announced that he will run for the position of Secretary General and the candidacy of the former Minister and the current Socialist deputy Pedro Nuno Santos should be formalized in the coming days. .
According to a socialist source, the presence of about three dozen “outstanding activists” is expected at this meeting in Cantanhede, including the former parliamentary leader and current president of the Economic and Social Council, Francisco Assis, the president of Sedes, Álvaro Beleza. , and former Foreign Minister Jorge Seguro Sanches.
According to one of the initiators of the meeting, the aim is mainly to “avoid fallout”, find a common position among the elements of this wing and, if possible, have a unity candidate for general secretary, in view of the upcoming elections . internal election processes in the PS.
On Wednesday, Francisco Assis argued in a statement to the Lusa agency that “in the current political circumstances, the highest PS officials are asked to do everything to ensure that there is understanding around a candidacy for party leadership.”
“The PS must not be afraid of early elections and must unite around a new aggregative and combative leadership”he added.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister and Secretary General of the PS, António Costa, following a lawsuit in which he was involved in connection with the lithium and hydrogen trade, presented his resignation to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and announced that he wouldn’t do that. Participation will again take place in the early parliamentary elections, scheduled by the head of state for March 10.
Source: DN
