This Saturday, the PSD will hold its 41st Congress, whose main goal is to revise the charter, but which the political crisis has turned into the start of an election campaign for early legislative elections.
The start of the main meeting in the Municipal Sports Complex of the city of Almada (Setúbal district) is scheduled for 10 am, with the first speech of the PSD President, more aimed at the party, but in which he should not forget the symbolism of the choice of November 25, for which Luis Montenegro has already pointed out as “a date of great historical significance for the democratic values and values that underpinned the SDP.”
In half an hour, the only proposal to change the law presented, that of the National Political Commission (NCP), is scheduled to be presented and discussed at a time that, according to the rules, must last until 6:00:00, including voting.
However, management expects that the fact that there is only one “constituency-supported” proposal may allow this part of the debate to be shortened and move more quickly to the second item on the agenda – an analysis of the political situation. situation, and that the closing meeting, scheduled for 10:00 p.m., could be rescheduled to a more convenient time for the media.
With just over three months left until the early elections, several former ministers of Durau Barroso and Passos Coelho have already been confirmed in Congress, such as Nuno Morais Sarmento, José Luis Arnaut, Maria Luis Albuquerque, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco or Miguel. Poyares Maduro, among others, who should contribute to the atmosphere of unity expected at the meeting.
In the statutory part, among the main changes proposed by the CPN are a maximum quota for leadership when choosing candidates for deputies (up to two-thirds of the total number) or the creation of ethical regulations for all party lists, as well as the application of parity rules in internal bodies and the holding of a pre-congress congress, when there is more than one candidate for the direct election of the SDP President.
The possibility of opening the leadership election to supporters, called primaries, was dropped from the proposal, despite some public calls for such discussion.
However, due to timing, none of the proposals will yet apply to the next legislative elections. If the revision is approved – requiring a vote of three-fifths of the delegates – then a final drafting committee must be established and its work must be approved by the National Council.
Luis Montenegro’s second speech, which will close the 41st Congress, should focus more on the country during the political crisis that began on November 7 with the announcement of the resignation of the Prime Minister due to a judicial investigation into the installation of the data center in Sines, as well as the production plant lithium and hydrogen, which prompted the Ministry of State to launch an independent investigation in the Supreme Court, in which António Costa appears.
Faced with this decision he had made, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, announced that he would dissolve parliament and call early legislative elections for March 10.
The PSD leader refused to comment on the legal issue that caused the political crisis, but on the day Costa’s resignation was announced, he supported the call for early elections, believing that “the government has collapsed from within.”
“This is the third time in 22 years that the same people, the same policies and the same model of government are clogging up Portuguese democracy,” he accused on November 7, calling on the Portuguese to punish “the repetition of a party organization that gives, shows that it is very easy to succumb to the schemes of political nepotism, hegemonic vertigo from power.”
At the extraordinary Congress of Almada, which registered 886 delegates and about 200 participants, party representatives were not invited to the final meeting, since it was a meeting dedicated to the revision of the PSD charter, which lasted only one day.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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