President of the PS contradicts Carneiro. Montenegro is not Guterres: “get that horse out of the rain”

“Results come from directions, victories and defeats”, warns Carlos César. Government also under evaluation, but “I’m definitely not going to resign, you can get that horse out of the rain now”, says Montenegro.

The president of the PS, Charles Caesarargued today that “all defeats and all victories are due to party leadership”expressing satisfaction if the socialists have a “frankly different vote” from the legislative electoral defeat.

“All defeats and all victories are victories and defeats of the party leadership, of all of them”, Carlos César told journalists upon arrival at Largo do Rato, in Lisbon, where the PS is following the election night, when asked who is responsible for a bad PS result.

Asked what would be a good result for the socialists, the PS leader argued that “each one has their own view on the matter”.

“My point of view on this matter is that the Socialist Party comes from a national legislative election where it had a very visible defeat, where it lost in many municipalities and in many places, and now I would like this not to happen again”, he clarified.

For César, “what will be mainly under observation on a political level in these elections” is whether or not the PS “is recovering from the electoral desire it had in the national legislative elections”.

“If we have a vote that is clearly different from the one we had in the last national legislatures, I will be satisfied. It means that the PS is resuming its status as a major party in the country and its status as an alternative to the AD”, he said.

At the end of September, Carneiro said, on the eve of the start of the municipal campaign, that a defeat in these elections “it will never be” fault of the secretary general.

Government assessment on the table

The president of the PSD and prime minister admitted this evening that the Government’s work will also be under evaluation, saying he awaits the results “with serenity” and ensuring that will never resign depending on these.

Luís Montenegro arrived shortly before 8:00 pm at the PSD-Porto headquarters, where the party is following the municipal election night. Asked if an assessment of the Government in local elections is also at stake, he replied: “I think so, that in some way the political party that leads the Government has the expectation that, also in its capacity to connect with local communities, it can establish a strong social and political contract”.

“I have never been afraid of elections, I have been in the opposition for many years, I have many kilometers of political activity and there is one thing: I only want to carry out political functions on the basis of the people’s trust, so I never mind being in court and on trial,” he said.

Remembering that there was a prime minister – the socialist António Guterres who resigned due to a municipal defeat – Montenegro completely ruled out this scenario.

“I’m definitely not going to resignthat can now take this horse out of the rain, so there won’t be any news”, he assured, promising to speak “in two or three hours” to give a political reading of the election results.