The president of the CDS, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, did not even have time to enjoy the so-called state of grace, after his election in congress. About a month and a half later, the covid-19 pandemic dictated his confinement. To him and to the Portuguese in general. The task of recovering some causes from the CDS and speaking more to the conservative electorate has not been an easy one, even though the Christian Democratic President is every day (or almost all) on the road, addressing the difficulties in business (he asked time and time again a cash shock for example), in agriculture, employment, education or other sectors. Along the way, there was a surprise this week: António Lobo Xavier putting pressure to support Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in the next presidential elections. “If the CDS does not support Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, I do not see how I can continue with the CDS. Not supporting Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is for me an impossibility and, therefore, a party to which I belong, if I had another option, even if it were symbolic or perhaps even ridiculous, I would be forced to leave “, declared the historical leader, in his usual comment on TVI24’s Circulatura do Quadrado program. It should be noted that Lobo Xavier is part of the group of wise centrists for the economic relationship plan, created by the president of the CDS.
The speech of the historic leader sounded like an ultimatum, but what Lobo Xavier meant was that his party needs a definition on the presidential ones, because it will be useful for CDS itself and to avoid giving rise to ambiguities, read Chega !, by André Ventura. The historic centrist also considered that he is convinced that his party will support Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
However, the potential effects of Lobo Xavier’s intervention forced him to speak with Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos to dispel any doubts or internal noise, SOL found. In other words; is with the centrist leader and did not want to harm him. Tidy subject.
However, presidential elections are a problem for centrists for several reasons. First, there will be no prominent figure who can compete against Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. Second, in the CDS, it is feared that the protest vote of Christian Democrats will go to André Ventura, the leader of CHEGA, a party that may steal more and more space from the centrists.
However, the entry of the presidential candidate supported by the Liberal Initiative, Tiago Mayan Gonçalves, left several centrists breathing in relief. The anti-Marcelo protest vote can go to this candidate (and not André Ventura). And Marcelo? Will it have official support from CDS? In time, yes, but only when undoing the taboo about a re-application. Until then, the CDS will have to prepare a narrative in support of a President of the Republic who has been criticized (and challenged) within the party. And that work has already started. This Friday, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos challenged Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to clarify whether he is running again before calling the presidential elections. In addition, the CDS leader urged him to clarify a fundamental point: “If on election day you will want to represent a victory for the right center or left center”, he declared from Porto (where he met with the bars and clubs).
This week, MEP Nuno Melo, who has avoided commenting on the internal situation of the CDS, made an analysis of the party: “Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos is president in one of the most difficult moments in our party history, because he has to be president of a party competing on the right with parties that didn’t exist. It’s very difficult to find the right speech to combat all of this. I understand that party management is very difficult today. And our obligation, regardless of the leader, is to try to help him or at least not create noise “, declared Nuno Melo to Rádio Campanário.
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