Brillante Diaz says the dissolution has deprived the parliamentary majority of its “legitimate ability” to continue its activities.

The parliamentary leader of the PS on Saturday said the decision of the president of the republic to dissolve parliament had deprived the socialist majority of the “legitimate opportunity” to continue working, saying the country was experiencing “another political crisis.”

From the pulpit of the 24th National Congress of the PS, which ends on Sunday at the Lisbon International Fair (FIL), Eurico Brillante Díaz declared that “this political crisis is not a political crisis like others.”

“Why is everything different? Because His Excellency the President of the Republic dissolved Parliament, while the PS had an absolute majority in Parliament and for the first time dissolved Parliament in such circumstances where this majority remains united and responds to the main electoral emphasis that the Portuguese wanted to be guaranteed in January 2022,” said He.

From the point of view of Brillante Díaz, for the first time, a “parliamentary interpretation was made, linking the elections of the parliament with the idea of ​​the presidency of the prime minister, depriving parliamentarians and the Republican Assembly of the legitimate opportunity to act to ensure that the voice of the Portuguese is taken into account.”

Brillante Diaz also said that the dissolution had “another very specific element”, recalling that Prime Minister Antonio Costa resigned after his name became the subject of a judicial investigation.

“And for the first time we have the dissolution of the Assembly and a political and political time that combines the time of justice with the time of politics. And this element is deeply negative,” lamented the leader, who in the internal campaign supported José Luis Carneiro for the post of secretary general.

The task of the PS, “under the leadership of Pedro Nuno Santos,” is to present its program with renewed teams and ensure its continuation.

“Because the context created will only favor the anti-democratic far right,” he argued.

Minutes earlier, Socialist Álvaro Beleza, associated with the party’s moderate wing and backing Pedro Nuno Santos in the race for the Socialist leadership, argued that the PS should win the election “for the Portuguese.”

“This is not for us, this is for the Portuguese who need the PS to end the poverty that we have in Portugal, with the inequality and problems. They are the reason we are still here and they need a strong, reformist PS with ambition. , with the determination and positive energy of the leader of our party,” he believes.

Then, turning to Pedro Nuno Santos, Alvaro Belesa said: “Your scars are our scars, we take on yours because here we are a collective, for better or for worse.”

At the beginning of his speech, Beleza welcomed journalists from the Global Media group, which includes publications such as JN, DN, TSF or O Jogo, who did not receive salaries in December, emphasizing that “a free press is the fourth pillar of liberal democracy.”

“The PS will defend to the last the freedom of the press, the quality of the press, our need for a free press today, in this time of demagoguery and populism,” the doctor said, then greeting the party professionals. National Health Service.

António Mendonça Mendes, the prime minister’s undersecretary of state, also stressed that the party would have to face a “new battle” that would not be fought “for the Socialists” but “for Portugal.”

“Unlike the right, which is a beacon of instability among itself, the PS is and has always been a beacon of stability for the country,” he said, warning that the right-wing majority “represents the biggest risk” for the Social State. but also to balance the budget.

ARL // SF

Lusa/The End