The leader of the PSD defended this Friday that the President must be “neither a helper nor a hindrance” to the opposition, admit that the party has not always been happy with the views of the head of state.
In an interview with CNN Portugal conducted by journalist Maria João Avillez, Luís Montenegro assured that he did not want to win the parliamentary elections “on a hitchhiker or with the help of the president of the republic”, and expressed reservations about what he will do. say to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the hearing they will hold on Tuesday, after a week in which they publicly disagreed over whether the PSD is now an alternative to the PS government.
“I do not want the President of the Republic to be a helper or an obstacle to this project [de construção de alternativa]”, he said, and when asked if he understands that it was an obstacle, Montenegro preferred to classify Marcelo as” an arbiter of political life “, warning that on the day “when he is part of the party debate , the spirit of the Constitution is undermined”.
The PSD chairman believed that this has not happened so far, although he reiterated his disagreement with the fact that Marcelo does not believe that there is already “an obvious alternative” to the government.
“I will not hide it from you: the PSD does not like to hear that, it does not confirm that analysis. The leader must be the one who is the coolest, who must better interpret what is the national interest and his own. I am not here to oppose the President of the Republic and I also hope that the President is not here to oppose the opposition,” he said.
Still, Montenegro rejected the idea of being dwarfed or infantilized by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s deliberations, but countered that “it is false that there is no alternative in Portugal”.
“Even from a systemic point of view, on a day when there is no alternative, there is no democracy,” he stressed, adding that, according to opinion studies, the voting intentions of PSD and IL combined are “3 or 4 points away from an absolute majority “.
Regarding his electoral strategy for the parliamentary elections, the PSD leader reiterated that the aim is to fight for an absolute majority and challenged the PS to say what it will do “if one of the two largest parties does not have an absolute majority” , he explains. whether it’s available to enable a minority PSD performer or whether you want to try a re-release of the “thingy,” a scenario that Montenegro has once again turned away from the Social Democrats if it doesn’t win.
“Later I will say what are the guidelines for hypothetical agreements that could be based on parliamentary support for governance,” he said, referring to this clarification ahead of the election.
In an excerpt from the interview that had already been released, the leader of the PSD assured that he will not be in government nor will he want the support of “racist, xenophobic, opportunist or populist politicians or politicians”, nor that they could convey a social-democratic executive immaturity or irresponsibility.
European: Candidate “has not been chosen”, but there is “very great consideration” for Rui Moreira
When asked if this is a way to include IL and CDS in future insights, he replied: “One can of course conclude that movements such as CDS and IL do not fall under these characteristics”.
On the other hand, when asked if it is a warning to Chega that it will not count on that party, Montenegro preferred to answer that “it is a way of warning the Portuguese to know what to count on”.
“I am not about fighting a political battle against Chega, I am aiming to tell the many voters who voted for Chega or have said in polls that they intend to vote for Chega that the PSD is the safe haven for an alternative administration,” he claimed.
Turning to next year’s European elections, he again said the candidate “has not been elected” and expressed “very high regard” for Porto’s current mayor, Rui Moreira, reiterating his ambition to win this vote.
When asked if he would leave the leadership of the PSD if he lost them, Montenegro referred to “the assessment of the whole context” towards the end of his term, in July 2024, saying he was “absolutely sure” that he would be re-elected president of the party.
“If there is an electoral catastrophe, I will know how to draw consequences from it, but I will not have it, and neither will the PSD,” he said.
In the CNN interview Montenegro again criticized the government’s housing package, saying that this week it received people from the real estate sector at the headquarters of the PSD, who told it that projects in the order of 600 million and 150 million euros would be canceled and another would be suspended, worth 180 million.
“There is no law yet, there are only proposals, but the effect is already being created in the market. That is what President Cavaco Silva has said in all letters,” he stressed.
Source: DN
