Chega’s president, André Ventura, decided to leave the party leadership and set a national convention for September, where the new leader will be chosen, an official source of this political force told Lusa.
According to the source, an elective national convention is scheduled “for September”, following the decision of the current leader and sole deputy.
“I haven’t resigned yet, but it will be done to have an electoral convention”, the president of Chega told Lusa, referring more details, including when the resignation will be made official, for a video that will be released today, addressed to the militants and party leaders .
Asked why he decided to resign as a party leader, André Ventura said only that “everything will be explained in the video” so that “the militants know first”.
The news was advanced by the online newspaper Observador, which cites a source close to Ventura, and refers to criticism of the fact that the deputy abstained from voting on the renewal of the state of emergency, since the first time he voted in favor.
Chega was made official as a party by the Constitutional Court on April 9 last year and André Ventura, the party’s face since its founding, was elected president of the National Directorate at the first national convention in June.
Despite being an advocate of the declaration of a state of emergency to address the covid-19 pandemic, and the day before the parliamentary debate on the topic announced that he would vote for the renewal, the only deputy abstained from voting that took place on Thursday in the Assembly of the Republic.
During the debate that preceded the vote, André Ventura criticized the possibility of releasing prisoners from Portuguese prisons, arguing that the measure can “generate pandemonium” and lead to a “crisis of impunity and crime”.
“What Chega will never accept and cannot accept is the release of prisoners from our jails, no matter how much they tell us they are measures requested by the UN [Organização das Nações Unidas], measures of humanity ”, he stressed at the time.
On the same day, in a statement to journalists, the leader of Chega pointed out that “this was one of the most difficult votes” in which he participated.
“Having the notion that Chega was the first party to call for a state of emergency, and also having the notion that the vast majority of militants, leaders, supporters of Chega wanted and want to maintain the state of emergency, there are differences between this decree [presidencial] that arrived at the Assembly of the Republic and the previous decree, since this expressly opens the door to the release of prisoners ”, he said.
Pointing to be aware that his voting sense “is not peaceful” and “is controversial” within the party and “perhaps he is misunderstood by a large sector of Portuguese society”, the deputy said that “he did not feel well” with his conscience if they voted in favor of a state of emergency that provided for the release of “all types of prisoners”.
“We cannot make such a decree viable without knowing exactly what is going to happen and it was for this reason, unique and exclusive, that Chega decided today not to vote in favor of the state of emergency”, he justified on Thursday.
