According to provisional results released on Saturday night by the PSD National Jurisdiction Council, Rui Rio obtained 15,301 votes, (49.44%), while former parliamentary leader Luis Montenegro garnered 12,767 (41.26%) and the deputy. Mayor of Cascais Miguel Pinto Luz 2,878 votes (9.3%).
There are 13 sections where irregularities were found: Amadora (Lisbon), Alter do Chão (Portalegre) and 11 of the Autonomous Region of Madeira. The Jurisdiction Council ensures that Madeira’s votes were not counted but the outcome would be the same.
“Expressive victory”
And that, according to Rui Rio, amounts to a “significant victory”, stressing that it was “0.56% of the absolute majority”, which requires a second round only “due to new rules”.
“This is the first time in the PSD that there is a second round. By the old rules, this was very neat. But with me nothing is easy,” said Rui Rio, still a social-democratic leader, speaking to reporters and militants in a hotel in Porto.
“Obviously, with such a significant result, I can add one more victory to my resume,” he noted, noting that his only defeat in politics was the results of the October legislative elections.
Rio declined Montenegro’s challenge for a debate. “I did not like it, I will not repeat. It does not benefit the PSD and does not serve to enlighten the militants,” he said, referring to the confrontation on RTP.
He guaranteed not to have negotiated “one place” in exchange for votes. “Who voted for me, voted for conviction. I did not negotiate a single seat. I did not tell anyone: get your votes there I give you the place like that or roast. No one voted in your personal interest. He stressed.
Rio reiterated that local authorities are a priority, along with constructive opposition. It intends to open the PSD to society because “they cannot be restricted to being almost exclusively a seat distribution agency”.
“All those who supported me two years ago (the date of the direct elections you played with Pedro Santana Lopes) and now they do not support it because of their place or the place of their friend,” he warned.
The Social Democrat also wanted to affirm difference in relation to Luís Montenegro’s speech: “I, after winning, I don’t count on Miguel Pinto Luz and his supporters. I, after winning tale with Miguel Pinto Luz and Luís Montenegro and his supporters . I count on everyone, “he stressed.
More voted for change than continuity
Luís Montenegro stressed that “it was more militants who voted for change than continuity” and ‘winked’ at supporters of the candidate who did not pass the second round, saying that if elected leader will count on Miguel Pinto Luz for the next challenges “politicians and partisans”.
“Today there were more militants who voted for change than militants who voted for continuity, which is why we have a second round,” said Luís Montenegro.
In the end, with journalists insistently questioning him, Montenegro replied that “of course” he believes in a second-round victory on Saturday 18.
The former deputy listed the “three concerns” with which he will dispute the second: “unity, clarification and ambition”.
“Unity because my concern is to be an aggregating leader, if I have the confidence of the militants I want in my list people who were next to Rui Rio and Miguel Pinto Luz,” he said reiterating that his only opponent is the prime minister. and PS leader António Costa.
The former PSD parliamentary leader considered that next week will serve to clarify what the militants want: “Between a firm opposition strategy, which I defend as a starting point against the PS, and the continuation of the strategy of subordination we had with the current one. leadership”.
Luís Montenegro also called for ambition to the militants: “Ambition to win local and legislative elections, ambition to govern Portugal”.
“I finally want to make an invitation to Dr. Rui Rio: an invitation for him to agree to have at least one televised debate next week. This debate is essential to help the militants make the final decision on the 18th, we cannot evading our responsibility to debate the future of the PSD and especially the future of Portugal and how we have done so far with elevation and a sense of responsibility, “he said. The invitation was later rejected by Rui Rio.
Pinto Luz says responsibility is now “much bigger”
The mayor of Cascais, who complained that he had reached 12% (counting the votes of Madeira that the CNJ did not count), considered that his responsibility is now “much greater”.
Miguel Pinto Luz spoke of a surprising result, and underlined the responsibility he represents.
“The responsibility from today is much, much greater,” said Miguel Pinto Luz, in a short statement before dozens of supporters in a space in Lisbon that served as headquarters for his candidacy.
After greeting Rui Rio and Luís Montenegro, Pinto Luz stressed that “the result today is clear”: “We reached 12%, 12% of PSD militants said they wanted a different way of doing politics, a different agenda, different priorities.” .
“We started with modest expectations, we all know, but I think today we can rightly say that we surprised everyone, even those who tried at all costs to bipolarize in these elections,” defended the mayor of Cascais.
“We have managed with the force of our ideas – and this is very important – to get many men and women out of the PSD. We know that this is precisely where the PSD will build an alternative, we have said it in the last two months and say it again today. : It is with the force of our ideas that the PSD will once again lead our country, “he said.
Pinto Luz argued that the PSD is the “only instrument of change that Portugal needs” to be “the alternative to the statist, socialist model” and stated that his candidacy “is a faithful depositary of these reformist and changing values”.
Congress scheduled for February
31,306 militants voted, out of a total of 40,604 registered, which puts the participation rate at 77.1%, the highest ever in direct percentage, despite being the lowest in absolute numbers of all internal electoral acts.
In the election, there were 219 blank votes and 141 null votes. If these results are confirmed, with a total of 30,946 votes cast – only these count on the decision whether or not to have a second round – Rui Rio was 173 votes from the absolute majority with which he would avoid going again on Saturday.
Rio had 2,534 votes more than Montenegro and, in terms of structure, won 13, while former parliamentary leader won seven and Pinto Luz two.
The current leader won Porto, Aveiro, Bragança, Guarda, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real, Santarem, Faro, Beja, Portalegre, Evora, Azores and Europe, while Luís Montenegro beat Braga, Leiria, Viseu, Coimbra, Castelo Branco, Lisbon Area West and Outside Europe. Pinto Luz emerged victorious in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and Setúbal, also claiming victory in Madeira, but the votes of the Autonomous Region were not counted.
In relation to 2018, when it disputed the direct with Santana Lopes, Rio lost the districts of Braga, Leiria and Viseu, but gained structures in which it had not won, cases of the Azores, Beja, Portalegre, Évora and Europe.
The CJN decided not to count Madeira’s votes because they were in disagreement with the electoral roll – the regional structure spoke of 2,500 eligible voters, the general secretary only 104 – and its president Nunes Liberato stressed that the released data would not alter the outcome of Saturday’s direct elections.
Still, the controversy may not end here, as PSD-Madeira regional secretary general José Prada announced that there would be an appeal if these votes were annulled or excluded.
The second round will be played next weekend.
The 38th PSD Congress is scheduled for February 7, 8 and 9, in Viana do Castelo.
w / Lusa
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