Liberal Initiative founding president Miguel Ferreira da Silva this Sunday praised diversity within the party and normalized “more or less lofty opinions” but warned of the risk that “old methodologies of doing politics” could infect liberals.
“Number one” on the T list of the National Council (the highest body among the conventions) and supporter of Carla Castro began by rising from the pulpit to say that the liberals are living the “dream”, referring to the growth of the IL since its founding.
“Yesterday [primeiro dia da convenção] we all feel the diversity of the party here. With many opinions, more or less lofty, because we believe in what we stand for, and that’s okay,” he said, alluding to some of the criticism that was exchanged between candidates and members on Saturday.
However, the party’s first president warned of “the risk that the old methodologies of doing politics” could infect liberals, saying “it’s time to stop this.”
Miguel Ferreira da Silva also asked for “respect for the bodies”, arguing that the National Council should not “deal with the day-to-day and political activities of the party” and emphasized that “this is the function of the Executive Committee and will be very well delivered”.
“On the T-list, we want to focus the political debate of the members on your contribution to help the executive committee, whichever is elected today, create this liberal Portugal that we believe in. All different, all liberals!” he concluded.
Moments later, the “number one” on the “B” list of the National Council, Nuno Simões de Melo, starred in an incendiary speech and applause from the members present in the hall.
Nuno Simões de Melo defended that the party cannot become a “blue watermelon” that is “liberal on the outside and blockists on the inside”, warning that there is a risk of liberals becoming blockists because blockists “do not change”.
“We need to talk more to the majority and let the minority activists speak for themselves,” he said, and this was one of the moments when he was most ridiculed.
The liberal, who has already declared his support for Carla Castro “in a personal capacity”, also stated that “Portugal does not start in Saldanha and end in Ameiras” in a call for the decentralization of the party, and left criticism of the current leadership, asking for transparency.
Nuno Simões de Melo also mentioned Francisco Sa Carneira, a former prime minister and one of the historical founders of the PSD.
“As Francisco Sa Carneiro, also a liberal in his time, would say, live always and above all of Portugal!” he exclaimed.
The 7th congress of the Liberal Initiative will conclude this Sunday at the Lisbon Congress Center, and the approximately 2,300 party members registered at the main assembly will elect a successor, João Cotrim Figueiredo, as leader of the party, which has gone from one to eight deputies in recent legislative assemblies.
At the first elected convention in IL history (founded in 2017), Rui Rocha and Carla Castro, deputies and members of the outgoing board, and national council member José Cardoso compete for the presidency of the Executive Committee.