Now that the campaign for the internal elections of the PS is about to end, with the activists of some socialist federations voting tomorrow while the rest do so on Saturday, the attacks between the main candidates have intensified, even as those responsible publicly defend a restraint is not always practiced by the supporters.
During a meeting between José Luís Carneiro and activists from Lisbon on Monday evening, there were direct references to the pressure exerted on supporters of the Minister of the Interior. Former Socialist mayor Vasco Franco denounced “the unspeakable behavior of some small parochial forces, pressuring and threatening activists for the simple fact that they plan to run for deputies to Congress.” Even clearer was Miguel Coelho, with the former head of the Lisbon municipality speaking of “lists that had been demobilized”, and saluting the “heroes” who marched in Loures, the municipality chaired by Ricardo Leão, supporter of Pedro Nuno Santos. Speaking to DN, Coelho said that after decades of partying, he had never seen “lists ready to be delivered, and on the same day they said they couldn’t do it.” “It is felt that there is a certain spirit of fear of the consequences,” said the historic socialist, who told Carneiro supporters on Monday that “we must be alert on voting day” and “be at the polling stations.” A call he told DN simply means that “if there are deputies, certainly no strange things will happen.”
Such words did not merit comment from Pedro Nuno Santos. “He will know what he is talking about there. I am concerned about the work being done in our candidacy,” Francisco César, who is leading the former Infrastructure Minister’s campaign, told DN.
“We have not once referred to our opponent and there is a clear orientation to talk about the country and our project, regardless of the attacks we have been exposed to,” defended the deputy, admitting that “it is impossible, and that wouldn’t be. desirable, to check everything that all supporters say.”
An example of this was the reaction of Porfírio Silva, a supporter of Santos, to Tony Carreira’s statement in favor of Carneiro. The deputy shared news on X (formerly Twitter) about this support and about the singer’s participation in a campaign of the National Road Safety Authority, supervised by the Minister of the Interior. “There are coincidences in the mug, aren’t they?!” he noted. The current governor’s campaign declared that the relationship between the two things is “science fiction” as Tony Carreira did not charge to participate in the road safety campaign and lost his daughter in an accident.
Vasco Franco also criticized an article by Ascenso Simões, which he described as “disgusting nonsense” without naming the author. The deputy wrote that Carneiro would not have challenged the leadership of the PS if Santos had guaranteed his support for a candidacy for the Porto Chamber in the 2025 municipal elections.
Militants will vote without any idea of the results
The election of the Secretary General of the PS (and the President of the Socialist Women) in two days, with the Federation of the Urban Area of Lisbon (FAUL) and the Federation of Setúbal among others for which the activists will vote tomorrow, while Porto and Braga, currently the largest in the country, are scheduled for Saturday, it is likely that the results of the first day of voting will be known to everyone who votes for the second, which gains relevance due to the fact that it is a The controversial choice is between two strong candidates to succeed António Costa, in addition to the returning candidacy of Daniel Adrião.
The federations that vote on Friday will conduct the vote after the polling stations close, which also has variable times depending on the many departments and voting locations. And although the organizing committee will only publicly announce the level of participation among the activists who appeared on the electoral list, the presence of delegates from the three candidacies will ensure that Daniel Adrião, José Luís Carneiro and Pedro Nuno Santos will be informed of the results they achieved in the quite important FAUL, where the former Minister of Infrastructure has his right hand Duarte Cordeiro, but also in Setúbal – where he received the support of almost all socialist deputies and mayors, with the mayor of Almada, Inês de Medeiros, the exception next to the head of internal administration, in Aveiro, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Évora, Guarda, Leiria, Portalegre, Oeste, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real. Therefore, the unofficial revelation among activists of the potential significant benefit of a candidacy could have an effect on Saturday’s votes.
For the second day, voting will take place in Porto, Braga, Algarve, Baixo Alentejo, Coimbra, Santarém, Viseu, Azores and Madeira. The official publication of the final results, which will also include the 1,400 delegates elected to the January 15 to 17 congress in Lisbon, is scheduled for after 11 p.m., so that it will be known who will have the mission to lead the PS in the legislative authority. elections on January 10 and March 2024.
Source: DN
