Manuel Fernando Araújo / LUSA
Luís Marques Mendes greeted by Luís Montenegro
Two elections, the presidential candidate who is really close and the criticism of the “extremists” who were demonstrating at the same time.
The president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, assured in Ovar that the party “does not want” and “will not have candidates from friends” in the elections autarchic in the autumn of this year, asking for applications “from those who are in the best conditions”.
“O PSD does not want, will not have, applications from friends. There will be applications from those who are in the best position to meet the interests of their respective populations”, said Luís Montenegro this Saturday, at the 5th National Meeting of Social-Democratic Mayors, which took place in the Auditorium of the Ovar Arts Center, in the district of Aveiro.
The PSD president assured, however, that will not “tamper” the party’s programmatic basis, but admitted that it will be “adapted, in each municipality, in each parish, to the local reality, the potential and capabilities of each community”.
“We will always be on the side of the best ideas, the best solutions, the best candidates, the best teams, prioritizing quality and competence”, he highlighted.
However, he assured that the PSD will not close the door “to those who are not from the PSD” and will open applications “to the best and most dynamic”.
Thus, Luís Montenegro asked the social-democratic mayors, “now that the decisive moment of choosing candidates, forming teams, deciding on the project is approaching, to not fail to take into account, always, first and foremost, the interest populations, the collective interest”.
“It’s close”
Montenegro also spoke about other elections, the presidential. He said that the PSDB’s support solution for a presidential candidate “it’s close”, in an auditorium where Luís Marques Mendes was sitting in the front row, causing laughter in the audience.
“It is not a matter for us to worry about. This is not a subject to cause any uneasiness here. We know the solution is close“, said Luís Montenegro about the PSD’s support for a presidential candidate.
The audience, which smiled at that time, he had received Marques Mendes shortly before with a standing ovation.
Despite the audience’s reaction, the PSD leader continued, guaranteeing that the candidacy supported by the PSD “will be a good solution, it will mobilize the country and it will give the country what the country needs, which is to have, in the Presidency of the Republic, someone that moderates sovereign powers, that guarantees the relationship between politics and society and not any personal or party-political project”.
The extremes
The Prime Minister also commented on those that were happening at the same time in Lisbon, very close to each other.
One was “Don’t Push Us Against the Wall”, against the police action in Martim Moniz and which included several leaders from the political left; the other was Chega’s concentration, “For authority and against impunity”.
In other words, for Luís Montenegro, it was a day of seeing extremists on the streets of the capital: “On a day where the extremes they each raise their flag in counterpoint, in open conflict with the other, we are the unifying element, of confluence, of moderation“.
“We have an obligation, it is not a question of option, but of obligation to ensure that we continue to be one of the safest countries in the world”, he reinforced.
