Between Friday and Sunday, Chega is holding his fifth convention in four years of his life, and Andre Ventura is again a candidate for leader in a meeting where the opposition will have no place to be heard.
This meeting of the highest body of the party was appointed after the rejection of the charter by the Constitutional Court (CC), but the National Council decided that it would not consider it, but only new elections of the president and bodies were envisaged.
Chega returns to the first statutes of 2019, the only one to receive TC approval. With these rules, the bodies are reduced, and some of them cease to exist (for example, the general secretary or the ethics committee), and the election of the leader ceases to be direct and returns to convention.
The national convention of the far-right AV party will be held in Santarém. This is the fifth big meeting since Chega was formally adopted by the TC in April 2019, but the first since the last legislative assembly a year ago.
In this election, the party led by André Ventura, who had been the only MP for Chega in the previous legislature, managed to increase its representation to 12 MPs, forming a parliamentary group, and rose to a third political force.
As of now, Ventura is the only leader candidate announced, but, in accordance with the convention’s election and operating procedures, nominations and related global strategic proposals may be submitted until 11:00 pm Friday.
Applications “must be approved by at least 10% of convention delegates,” the rule says.
As in the election of 600 delegates, “all lists assigned to the President of the Party” won, as announced at the time, there would be little opportunity for any possible opposition to challenge the leadership against Ventura.
Unlike what happened before, the list that won the elections in each county and autonomous region won all the seats.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, former vice president and number two activist Nuno Afonso, who allowed the leadership race, ruled out against the incumbent leader and indicated that he should not attend the convention.
“In principle, I will not attend, because everything was done so carelessly that the Constitutional Court will have to give an order to repeat,” he said.
Nuno Afonso, who was relieved of his position as chief of staff of the parliamentary group and more recently his political trust as an adviser in the Sintra chamber was withdrawn, also told Luce that “no one who is considered to be in opposition should be present.”
In an interview with the Lusa agency, the incumbent and re-candidate defended that “all the rules were absolutely observed” and believed that “the equality of the parties is fully ensured.”
In the program of the congress updated on Wednesday, the chairman of the party will make at least three speeches: at the opening, on Friday, on Saturday, after the elections, and also at the closing, which is scheduled for Sunday evening.
According to information published by the party newspaper, representatives of various European extreme right parties will attend and speak at the closing of the congress, including the French National Rally, the Dutch Liberty Party (PVV), the Alternative for Germany (AfD). , from Spanish Vox or Fidesz, the ruling party in Hungary.
FM // JPS
Lusa/The End
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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