IL’s new president Rui Rocha said on Sunday that the party “will continue to lead the opposition” as the PS government “can remain in power” but is “completely exhausted and politically dead”.
In the victory speech for IL’s internal elections, Rui Rocha guaranteed that the party will “take up its responsibilities” and “lead the opposition” as he believes it has done so far, giving an example of its position towards of TAP, its stance on “the abuses of the pandemic” and its focus on economic growth.
“The government can cling to power, but the PS government is completely exhausted, it is politically dead and we were the ones who declared it with the censure motion,” he said.
The new president reiterated the campaign’s goal of reaching 15% if parliamentary elections take place as planned, assuring that the party is committed to “ending two-party systems”, which is “harmful to Portugal”.
Rui Rocha won with 51.7% of the vote. The M list, by Carla Rocha, obtained 44% and the A, by José Cardoso, 4.3%, officially announced by the convention board.
Ahead of the victory speech, Rui Rocha promised a “very rapid” transformation in the party, saying he wanted to prepare it for “the battles” he wants to fight in the country.
The new leader said he listened to members both during the internal campaign and at the magna meeting. “The party needs transformation, we are going to do it and we are going to do it very soon. We want the party to be ready for the battle we want to fight,” he said.
Rui Rocha thanked the outgoing president and his supporter, João Cotrim Figueiredo, who considered him “an extraordinary leader”, as well as the two defeated candidates, Carla Castro and José Cardoso, for the “civil courage they showed and the way they contributed to these elections.”.
“Let there be no doubt, in thanking Carla Castro and José Cardoso, I count on all liberals without exception. All those who want to participate in the future of IL. In the future of IL everyone is welcome, we are all liberals, we are here to change Portugal,” he said.
Before taking the stage to close the convention, the new president of the IL declared that the role that Carla Castro, the defeated candidate, will play in the IL “is the role she has today and all she wants to do within the possible participation in the feast”.
“The past ends today at IL, today we open a new page of growth, only the future of IL matters,” he said in short statements to journalists, among many hugs with supporters.
João Cotrim Figueiredo’s succession was presented on more than one list for the first time in the party’s history, and deputies and leaders Rui Rocha and Carla Castro and National Councilor José Cardoso challenged the leadership at the IL’s VII National Convention, which ends today in Lisbon.
The list for the National Council affects the new leader, Rui Rocha, who took 24 of the 50 seats in the highest body between conventions, while founder Miguel Ferreira da Silva’s got 14.
The B-list, led by Nuno Simões de Melo, a supporter of defeated candidate Carla Castro, won only four terms.
The L-list hits Rui Rocha and the only one to run for all bodies, the election was led by the current president of the board of directors, Mariana Leitão.
The D-list, led by Rui Malheiro, won four terms and the S-list, led by Márcio Oliveira Santos, also won four terms.
João Cotrim Figueiredo’s succession was presented on more than one list for the first time in the party’s history, and deputies and leaders Rui Rocha and Carla Castro and National Councilor José Cardoso challenged the leadership at the IL’s VII National Convention, which ends this Sunday in Lisbon.
According to the convention’s statutes, “The motion that obtains a simple majority of votes shall be approved as a Global Strategy Motion by the National Convention” and “the list proposing the most voted Global Strategy Motion shall be elected as the Executive Committee”.
(updated)
Source: DN
