Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos produced his first speech as the leader of the CDS-PP, at the close of the 28th national congress of the party, in Aveiro, trying to pass, essentially, two messages: internal unity and the party’s refusal of ideological conditions that would characterize him, right or left
In an intervention of just over 20 minutes – and where some governance proposals have already been heard -, Assunção Cristas’ successor underlined, more than once, regarding the internal plan, that his lists were made taking into account the ” various sensitivities “of the party.
“In Parliament there will be a fantastic set of deputies. My Assembly will be the country. We are going to roll up our sleeves for 2023 or when the elections give a new majority to the right.”
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He praised the “humility” of Filipe Lobo d’Ávila – who throughout the congress was his competitor to the leadership and later accepted to be its first vice president – and also the “fantastic” parliamentary group of the party in the Assembly – where he has none supporter, including in that compliment his main competitor to the leadership, João Almeida.
In face of what Cristas defended, the idea of the CDS being bigger than the PSD has now fallen. The CDS, said Rodrigues dos Santos, aims to grow (recovering lost voters and adding new ones) and contribute to “a new majority on the right”.
“We will start counting mayors and not councilors.”
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Growing up autarchically was also an announced goal for the next local elections (October 2021): “We will now count mayors and not councilors.”
“Let us be clear: on the right he leads the CDS, he does not lead any other party.”
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As for the strategic and doctrinal autonomy of the CDS, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos – who did not provoke as much enthusiasm at the grassroots as during the congress – both shot to the left and to the right. On the right, he implicitly denounced his concern with the growth of Chega, assuring: “Let us be clear: on the right he leads the CDS, he does not lead any other party.” He also tried to put the party on foot with liberalism, covering the Liberal Initiative, underlining the importance of Lucas Pires’ legacy in the CDS.
For the left, he said he refuses to let himself be concerned by “cartoonish views” of the party that can be tempted by “a little intellectual elite elite on the left”.
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