Chega failed to elect a vice president of the Assembly of the Republic for a third time on Thursday, with deputy Rui Paulo Sousa receiving 64 favorable votes, while needing 116 votes to be elected.
At the end of the vote, Chega’s president asked for the floor to complain about a “true boycott” of his party, arguing that the bank presented candidates “with different profiles” so that the Assembly of the Republic could comment on the feasibility of occupying the charge”, but that is not the point.
“It’s a partisan boycott, it’s an ideological boycott, and it’s something that a camera doesn’t do very well, even if Chega respects the voice of his colleagues,” he emphasized, speaking of the “biggest boycott Western Europe has faced.” political party”.
Ventura addressed the leader of the PS parliamentary group directly, stating that “this result has only one responsible party, namely the party that governs Portugal”.
“This result, Mr Eurico Brilhante Dias and the entire PS bank, is directly attributed to you,” he accused.
In response, Eurico Brilhante Dias stated that the “120 deputies of this bank voted freely and democratically, they voted with their convictions, they voted with the mandate given to them by the voters”, dismissing the boycott charge.
“In that mandate there was no boycott, but a red line for all those who are against democracy and against the democratic system,” defended.
Speaking of “120 people in charge”, the parliamentary leader of the PS said he had “the honor of leading a bank that, despite the lack of freedom, does not hesitate in the face of those who want to attack the most valuable foundations of the democratic state”.
“Between us and the undemocratic extreme right there is a red line that I, which we, 120 deputies, will never cross. With us, they will not cross,” said the socialist deputy.
Chega did not want to leave the PS unanswered and the party leader said he would not admit that his bank was called undemocratic.
“In democracy we have to accept the results. Instead of calling this bank anti-democratic, we have to accept the results and the votes of 400,000 Portuguese, and we have to respect those Portuguese,” defended Pedro Pinto.
The leader of the Liberal Initiative, João Cotrim Figueiredo, justified that he felt “covered in some way” on the matter and asked Brilhante Dias “if he considers the IL beyond these supposed red lines that no one has given the right to set in connection with the votes of the Portuguese”.
And he pointed out that at the beginning of the legislature, when his name was also ‘cleared’ for vice president, ‘a large part’ of the PS deputies did not vote for him.
The PS parliamentary leader replied that “a deputy from the Liberal Initiative had 110 votes from the deputies, because the vast majority of the votes he received came from this bank”, including his own.
And he left a challenge to Cotrim Figueiredo: “In democracy we accept the election results and I invite you to propose the candidate you want to be the vice president of this hemisphere, you will again have my vote”.
Source: DN
