The national councils of the PSD and CDS-PP will meet this Monday to move forward with the selection of deputies

The national councils of the SDP and SDS-PP will meet this Monday evening, but while the Social Democrats have on their agenda the approval of lists of parliamentary candidates, the Christian Democrats have only included their criteria “on the agenda”.

Both meetings will begin at 21:00 in Lisbon, with the meeting of the highest body of the PSD at the hotel and the PSD-NP at the national headquarters.

On Sunday evening, the first six heads of the list of the Democratic Alliance (AD), a coalition that will unite PSD, CDS-PP and PPM in the March 10 legislative elections, were announced.

PSD President Luis Montenegro will head the list of the Lisbon Circle, while independent and former President of the Order of Doctors Miguel Guimarães will be number one for Porto.

Social Democratic vice-president Miguel Pinto Luz will head the list of AD deputies for Faro, and former Social Democratic leader and governor Teresa Morais for Setúbal.

Two other independent candidates were also announced as heads of the coalition list: Eduardo Oliveira i Sousa, former president of the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), for Santarem and university professor of political science and international relations Liliana Reis for Castelo Branco.

The PSD National Council will approve today, as provided for in the party’s statutes, the appointment of the PSD candidate for the post of Prime Minister – President Luis Montenegro – and the proposal of the National Political Commission (CPN) to be included in the list of candidates for the legislative elections. The first point is also planned to approve the party’s budget for 2024 and distribute income between various bodies.

The meeting of the highest body between the congresses of the SDS-NP included on the agenda only the “presentation, discussion and voting on the criteria of the lists of parliamentary candidates for the legislative elections on March 10, which should be included in the lists of the Democratic Alliance (AD)”, and is yet to be determined. whether all the names to be included by the Christian Democrats will be confirmed today.

On January 4, the highest authorities of the two parties already met to unanimously approve the AD coalition, which will also be valid for the European elections in June and which was publicly presented in the initiative in Porto on January 7, in which Miguel Guimarães spoke on behalf of the independent candidates who will join to the combined lists.

For now, it is confirmed that the CDS-PP will have two “clearly suitable” seats on the lists for Lisbon and Porto (to be filled by Vice President Paulo Nuncio and leader Nuno Melo respectively), the 16th place in each one of these constituencies. in addition to the 10th place on the list for Aveiro and the 11th for Braga, with the 19th place reserved for the NPM in the capital.

Today, ahead of the National Council meeting this evening, the SDP will also meet during the day with the Standing Committee (a limited governing body) and the National Political Commission to complete the process of selecting deputies.

Although the bylaws approved at the last Congress on November 25 have not yet taken effect, management approved a resolution that specifies that lists submitted to the National Council must conform to the “spirit and general principles” of the new rules that will govern PSD.

The new charter defines the competence of the National Political Commission “to approve the criteria for compiling lists of deputies of the Assembly of the Republic, to elect the heads of the lists in each circle, and in circles with more than two deputies – up to two-thirds of the candidates, proposing a corresponding order to the National Council.”

Until now, there were no restrictions in the SDP charter on the choice of candidates by the CPN, this decision was left to the discretion of each leadership, which in practice could impose only the heads of the list or all candidates.