Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
Francisco Assis
Socialist MEP notes “regrettable exchange of insults” and internal accusations: “the majority of PS activists and supporters have respect and admiration for António José Seguro and repudiate this behavior”.
The socialist MEP Francisco Assis stated this Sunday that there is an organized campaign within the PS to prevent António José Seguro’s candidacy for the presidential elections, considering that the former secretary general is being attacked in an unacceptable way.
On Friday, on RTP2, Augusto Santos Silva, former president of the Assembly of the Republic, expressed the opinion that António José Seguro does not meet “the minimum requirements of a candidacy that can be supported by the PS and a vast field of democratic forces”, because “it stops at banalities”.
In the note he sent to the Lusa agency, however, Francisco Assis does not point out specific situations or name any socialist leader.
“Democratic debate presupposes respect for minimum rules of civility, under penalty of becoming a regrettable exchange of insults and abject accusations. Elevation and containment are required from the main political leaders”, wrote the PS MEP.
Afterwards, Francisco Assis said he could not “stop criticizing the way in which some PS figures have referred to the party’s former general secretary António José Seguro”.
“A properly organized campaign appears to be underway with a single aim: to prevent a presidential candidacy by António José Seguro. It is legitimate not to support this eventual candidacy, the way in which it is being used to try to make it unfeasible is unacceptable”, he accused.
Francisco Assis later defended that Antonio José Seguro “is a man of character, a condition that should be essential for the exercise of public functions”.
“Throughout his career, he revealed qualities that are missing in our political life: He does not exchange convictions for opportunities, he puts causes before his career, he places the general interest above group ambitions, he cultivates independence and rejects the servility typical of those who aim only to survive” , he further maintained.
The former president of the PS Parliamentary Group believes that “the majority of PS activists and supporters have respect and admiration for António José Seguro and repudiate these inappropriate behaviors that undermine the best of the PS tradition”.
In an interview with TVI/CNN, in November, Seguro would think about whether he would be a candidate for president of the Republic after the leader of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, mentioned his name among the possibilities for the race to succeed Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
On Thursday, a strong option to represent the PS in the presidential elections, Mário Centeno, who will not be a candidate.
This Sunday, after Pedro Nuno admitted that “more than one person wants the Presidency of the Republic”, Jornal de Notícias states that the PS is between two names: Elisa Ferreira e Antonio Vitorino.
The former European Commissioner, however, showed complete unavailability to be a candidate when contacted by Pedro Nuno Santos, according to .
