The President of the Republic, the leaders of the PSD and SDS-PP, as well as former Prime Minister Pedro Santana López, were present this Monday at the mass in memory of Francisco Sa Carneiro and Adelino Amaro da Costa, who died 43 years ago.
Coming to the mass, Luis Montenegro did not want to promote any decision on a possible electoral coalition with the SDS-PP, saying only that there were no obstacles “to the consideration of this coalition.”
“There are no obstacles to achieving broad understanding and there is no obsession,” he assured, adding that a decision on this issue will be communicated “in the coming weeks.”
Montenegro confirmed that, whatever the decision, the SDP candidate lists “will include independent citizens and, ultimately, representatives of other political parties.”
At the same time, the PSD leader was asked about the criteria approved by the National Political Commission (NCP) for the selection of deputies, such as the exclusion of those who have been “convicted in the first instance, sentenced” or have “strong evidence” of crimes against the state or committed in execution public functions.
“We are here at a mass in which we will remember our founder Francisco Sa Carneiro, and one of the principles that he bequeathed to us was precisely to suggest that politics without risk is boring, but without ethics it is a shame,” he stressed He.
The PSD leader said he intends to “take risks for the future of Portugal in an ethical, transparent and trustworthy manner so that citizens can feel safe with their representatives.”
In the same spirit, Montenegro dedramatized another criterion approved by the CPN, according to which parliamentary candidates must “commit to relinquish their mandate in the event of a persistent discrepancy between the general guiding principles of the Parliamentary Group and their individual position.”
“We are not forcing resignation on anyone, we want candidates to be clearly committed to our political program (…) We want our candidates to feel complete freedom to carry out their mandate, but the political commitment we are going to establish with the help of citizens is not personal, but collective,” he said, believing that with this criterion “there is no need to make a fuss.”
Also, when asked about the topic of a possible coalition with the PSD, the leader of the SDS-PP this Monday refused to comment on any topics other than the tribute that marked this day.
“43 years ago, Portugal and democracy lost two fundamental figures, the PSD and the HDZ lost two absolute reference figures, two patriots who died in the political struggle and whom Portugal misses very much,” Nuno Melo said, refusing to give further statements.
In addition to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who usually attends this mass, former PSD president (now retired from the party) Pedro Santana López and historical activist and Sá Carneiro secretary Conceição Monteiro, as well as PSD vice-president Paulo Rangel, as well as former and current deputies , such as Pedro Roseta, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento or Alexandre Pozo.
On December 4, 1980, Francisco Sá Carneiro, then Prime Minister, and Adelino Amaro da Costa, Minister of Defense, were killed when their Cessna plane crashed as they were leaving Camarate (Lisbon) for an election rally in Porto, along with the crew and the rest of their entourage: Snoo Abecassis, Manuela Amaro da Costa, António Patricio Gouveia, Jorge Albuquerque and Alfredo de Souza.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.