The coordinator of the program of the Socialist Party (PS) in the legislative elections argued that the socialists should be called to power if they manage to defeat the Democratic Alliance (AD) based on the results of counting the emigration votes.
In statements made this Sunday on The Uncertainty Principle, CNN PortugalAlexandra Leitan entertained the possibility that the PS could still be nominated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, to form a government, despite the fact that Socialist Secretary General Pedro Nuno Santos recognized the triumph of March 10 AD and that his party should go into opposition.
“If the PS, after counting the votes of the Portuguese communities, has more mandates or, in the event of a tie, more votes than the AD, then it must govern. If at the end of this vote she has fewer mandates than AD. AD or, in case of a tie, AD has more votes, AD must govern,” he said, admitting, however, that the PS is unlikely to overtake the coalition.
Later at the meeting, the former minister repeated: “Imagining that the PS – I repeat, this is extremely unlikely – will have more mandates or, if there were an equal number of mandates, have more votes than the coalition, then I have no doubt that […] The President of the Republic must call on the PS to form a government, and the right, in fact, together with Chega, will bear the burden of overthrowing the PS government, in this scenario, which, as I have already begun, speaking for myself, is highly unlikely.”
Alexandra Leitan rejected the idea that responsibility for governance would fall on the PS if the results of emigration did not change the current panorama of the AD’s advantage over the socialists.
“People expect the PS to be the leader of the opposition, that it has an alternative program for the country, that it has a set of different options for solving the country’s problems, and therefore there is no need to put pressure on the PS to transform itself as a kind of support for the government,” – he emphasized, recalling that “the right has a majority in the Assembly of the Republic and, therefore, everyone must bear responsibility.”
AD, which unites SDP, HDZ and PPM, with 29.49%, received 79 deputies in the Assembly of the Republic in the legislative elections on March 10 against 77 for the PS (28.66%), followed by Chega with 48 deputies. elected (18.06%).
IL with eight seats, BE with five and PAN with one, maintained the number of MPs. Livre went from one elected representative to four, and the CDU lost two seats and was left with four deputies.
Four MPs are yet to be investigated for emigration, which will not happen until Wednesday.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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