Deputies are today trying to elect the chairman of parliament for the fourth time

Deputies will meet again in plenary session this Wednesday at 12 noon to try for the fourth time to elect the President of the Assembly of the Republic after three failed attempts on Tuesday.

The impasse in the election of the second state figure led to the fact that after 23:00 on Tuesday, the PCP deputy António Filipe, temporarily presiding over the parliament, announced at the first plenary session of the XVI Legislative Assembly that work would resume this Wednesday at 12:00: 00:00 and that applications can be submitted until 11:00.

We are talking about the election of the President of the Assembly of the Republic, which must take place at the first plenary meeting of the legislative body by an absolute majority of votes of the current deputies (116).

The first elections for the President of Parliament, held by secret ballot, began at 15:00, with only the Social Democratic deputy José Pedro Aguiar-Branco as a candidate.

At 17:00, the first failure of the election for the President of the Assembly of the Republic was announced, as the former Minister of Defense received 89 votes in favor, 134 empty and seven zero.

About an hour later, the SDP withdrew its candidacy, but at 7 p.m. the former defense minister resubmitted it.

At the same time, the PS decided to nominate Francisco Assis and Chega Manuela Tender.

In the first round, the Socialists win by a small margin (90 against 88 for Aguiar-Branco), and the Chegi deputy will remain behind with 49 votes.

In the second round – the third attempt at elections – another failure was repeated with very similar results: 90 votes for Assis and 88 for Aguiar-Branco, with neither achieving the required absolute majority in favor.