Aguiar-Branco elected president of the Assembly of the Republic – Politics

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco is the new president of Parliament. The Social Democrat gathered 160 votes in favor, in the fourth vote, this Wednesday. The new president succeeds the socialist Augusto Santos Silva.

The results received a standing ovation from the PSD and CDS-PP, the majority of the PS bench, seated, and some IL deputies. Before taking the stand to speak, the new President of Parliament greeted parliamentary leaders from all benches.

In the same election, Chega deputy Rui Paulo Sousa ran, who obtained 50 votes, with 18 blank votes still being registered, in a vote in which 228 of the 230 deputies participated.

First speech
Having overcome the institutional impasse, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco challenged “all parliamentary groups to rethink the election of the president of the Assembly of the Republic (AR), for the sake of democracy” and gave the first clues about how he intends to exercise his mandate.

“You don’t elect an AR president to like more or less what is said in the plenary. (…) You don’t elect an AR president to lead debates,” he said. “Parliamentary work does not have to be spectacularized or turned into a television program,” he added.

Assuming the commitment of president of parliament, the social democrat commits himself to the “high responsibility” of the position, considering that “the vote of each Portuguese person must deserve equal respect from all citizens”, especially from deputies.

“I believe that for representative democracy to prevail, it is essential that the political action of elected protagonists and leadership by example are conducted in an irreproachable manner, in terms of service to the public cause”, he added.

Aguiar-Branco accepts “the requirement of impartiality, equidistance, rigor” that everyone expects from him, understanding the nature of the role he assumes.

“If it is true that the rules apply to 230 deputies, the loyalty of the president of the Assembly of the Republic applies to all 229 deputies. If we are not able to understand each other in the house of democracy, what example are we setting abroad “, he asked, receiving a lot of applause at this moment.

The new president of parliament hopes that the Board of the Assembly of the Republic, which “will be held today [esta quarta-feira] elected is capable of uniting what ideologies separate” and that “politics does not separate what the voters in this house wanted to unite”.

“The Portuguese elected us to be here for the next four years. We have to live up to it,” he said.