And there have been three. Every time PS deputy Alexandra Leitão points to behavior that is politically difficult to sustain among leaders of her party, these leaders cease to exist. It has already happened with three secretaries of state: Miguel Alves (Deputy Prime Minister), João Neves (Economy) and Rita Marques (Tourism).
Essentially, what he said was pure political common sense. Only within the PS nobody did – hence the rarity of his voice. Alexandra Leitão, who reveals independence of mind, has been the talking cricket of the PS, a kind of critical conscience, showing her face and pointing out slippery behavior.
In the case of Miguel Alves, he confined himself to stating that, despite being mayor suspected of involvement in financial crimes, remaining in government would create “vulnerabilities”. When several people in the PS whispered: unofficially the embarrassment the situation caused, the deputy sheriff put it bluntly – and eventually Miguel Alves resigned.
That was one of the situations. The other had no judicial contours, it was only and exclusively political. Then Alexandra Leitão wasn’t just stating out loud what many people in the ER were thinking. Earlier he exposed a situation in the government that many were unaware of: the split between the Minister of Economic Affairs and two of his secretaries of state. “Two of the three ministers of state at the Ministry of Economic Affairs came forward to say the opposite of what the minister said [sobre uma descida “transversal” do IRC]this confuses me very much.” This week both left the government.
The delegate’s main stage was “The Principle of Uncertainty”, the CNN program, where, with the moderation of journalist Carlos Andrade, José Pacheco Pereira and António Lobo Xavier discuss weekly political news. He entered when Ana Catarina Mendes left, to take up the functions of Deputy Minister and Parliamentary Affairs. Although he does not remember who exactly suggested it, Carlos Andrade assures that it was a name that “immediately came to mind”. It was therefore “a very first choice”: “Speaking on behalf of everyone, we are very satisfied with Alexandra Leitão.”
“Assertiveness”. This was essentially one of the hallmarks of the deputy’s public interventions. And that’s even though he admits that “for women in particular, it can be a problem.” The other characteristic may have been a certain naivety. This is the result when he confesses that he “didn’t count” on all the visibility he got with his statements about Miguel Alves.
The Portuguese got to know her when, from 2015 to 2019, as Deputy Secretary of State and Education, she was the protagonist of the government’s war against private schools due to contracts of association. Then, in Costa’s second government, the Minister of Modernization of the State and Public Administration (2019-2022) rose, a position in which he did not hide the dissatisfaction he felt, for example, due to salary increases for state employees below what he defended . “Public administration has left finance, but finance has not left public administration,” he said.
This shock may have been why António Costa did not reappoint her in the current government. Alexandra didn’t like it and worded it clearly. Then the head of the PS invited her to lead the parliamentary group and Alexandra Leitão did what would be unthinkable to many: she refused. And she did it for the simplest reason in the world: she had never been a deputy sheriff in her life.
Now he feels “very good” in the Constitutional Affairs committee and as chairman of the Transparency and Statute of Deputies committee. He is preparing to participate in the constitutional revision and has meanwhile resumed his normal profession: teaching at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon. Nada and raised 49 years ago in one of the best neighborhoods in Lisbon, Alvalade, she chose law with a view to a possible diplomatic career. He soon realized that what he wanted was to stay in law and teach.
Within the PS, where he joined at the age of 18, he assumes he is “obviously from the left wing” and a supporter of Pedro Nuno Santos if he wants to become leader of the party one day. But is she herself, with the new role she has taken on, a star in this card game of Costa’s succession? “I don’t think about it.” No? ‘No. But they talk to me about it occasionally for the last few months.”
Source: DN
