What if at the convention that the party will schedule on Sunday to elect a new leadership, all Liberal Initiative (IL) militants appear? According to party sources, there will now be more than 6,000.
According to the statutes, everyone has the right to participate in said convention (provided the dues are up to date), that is, to elect the new governing bodies there, with emphasis on the executive committee – a list headed of the candidate for party chairman – and for the National Council (the IL “Parliament”, where the different lists will have a representation proportional to the votes the militants give them).
“The IL needs to be stronger, both outwardly and to its own internal organization. We need to find a way to give the members a voice, to unleash that potential.”
So there will be over six thousand potential – with the organizational aggravating factor of being able to join on the spot and remotely, through digital means – participants of the convention, the 7th in its history, where IL will choose who will succeed João Cotrim Figueiredo in the leadership of the party. An organizational nightmare that is very characteristic of a party that grew up without modernizing the organizational solutions that were then small. Thus, Carla Castro or Rui Rocha – the candidates for the succession who have already presented themselves, both deputies – will be voted in by direct election. The convention is not expected to discuss changes to the statutes – that will be before the next one. Rocha has already said he plans to do just that: “The IL needs to be stronger, both in terms of what’s being turned outwards and in terms of its own internal organization. We need to find a way to give members a voice to release this potential,” he said, quoted by Lusa.
“The starting conditions were not the same and I made the decision based on the data I had and decided to go ahead, which means I will be ready for the elections in December. If it is postponed, I am of course also willing to be in January.”
Tomorrow, at a hotel in Coimbra, the party’s National Council will meet to set the date for the convention and approve the regulation of the electoral process. Everything points to it being the preferred solution for January 2023 by Rui Rocha. Carla Castro preferred it to be in December, but in the meantime said she will not propose a date and will accept any decision: “The starting conditions were not the same and I made the decision based on the data I had and decided to move on, which means I’m ready for the election in December. If it’s postponed, I’ll be ready in January, of course.”
The National Council also sets the deadline for submitting applications to national party bodies. For the time being there are only two candidates, but nothing prevents the arrival of others, now from outside the group. It is believed that there are already five lists for the National Council, two of which have been assigned to the candidates.
For now, the candidates are determined to seek support within the party and establish doctrinal lines that set them apart.
As for the support, Rui Rocha is known to leave with the advantage of having received the support of the outgoing party leader, João Cotrim Figueiredo – a fact that, however, created the idea, not liberal, that the party was preparing for a sort of dynastic succession, an idea quickly explored by Carla Castro.
“Birds of a Feather”
In addition, Bernardo Blanco, Joana Cordeiro and Patrícia Gilvaz have already expressed their support for Rocha on the bench. Rodrigo Saraiva, leader of the parliamentary group, has already warned that he will not speak in favor of one or the other. And he announced that in the next internal “legislature” at IL he wants to leave the highest governing body, the Executive Committee.
Another very important deputy in IL’s internal “chess”, Carlos Guimarães Pinto – leader of the party before Cotrim – also opted for equal distance, because “both [Rui Rocha e Carla Castro] are able to keep the identity of the party and I think they will.” Support from Cotrim Figueiredo.
As far as the doctrinal question is concerned, no one can establish a fundamental difference between the two either. As one militant told the DN, “they’re flour from the same bag”. For example, both are in favor of the idea that there are no agreements with Chega – the well-known “red line”.
Source: DN
