Rodrigues dos Santos criticizes the “subalternization” of CDS in the AD and wants to see the party more “to the center”

Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, who presided over the CDS from 2020 to 2022 and who became known by the nickname “Chicão”, sees the current political framework “as a donut”: “The fringes are filled, but in the center there is a big hole. It is this space that the CDS must fill.” It was in an interview with CNN Portugal, this Saturday, March 16, that the former party leader explained what he believes to be the necessary future: moving from the right to the center.

Now practicing law, Rodrigues dos Santos criticized his successor, Nuno Melo, in the interview (although he did not name him), and even left a path for the party: “The CDS must return to its headquarters, to its origins. CDS stands for Social Democratic Center. Perhaps, a more central positioning, which brings together social concerns, preferences for the most vulnerable and poor, a strong social state, and a free social market economy that provides autonomy.”

A “positioning” of the party that Rodrigues dos Santos gives before the party Congress, scheduled for April 20th and 21st, in Viseu. It is there that he hopes to see discussed what will distinguish the party ahead, something that he believes does not currently exist.

AD and the almost “merger”

“We are witnessing a subalternization of the CDS, and almost a merger between the two parties”, attacked Rodrigues dos Santos on CNN.

The AD, with 79 elected deputies (three of which are in Madeira, only with the union of the PSD and CDS), received criticism from the party’s former president: Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos believes that the CDS is “somewhat diluted in the PSD to the point that, for For many center-right voters, the mark that the CDS contributed to this alliance is unrecognizable, and even the net voting margin that it added to this result”.

Speaking to CNN, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos welcomed the election of the two CDS deputies (Nuno Melo and Paulo Núncio), the only ones who had guaranteed election taking into account the places in which they had been placed. “It’s good”, but he took the opportunity to shoot at the former MEP: “The president had predicted between 4 and 6.” Still, it is a return to the party, achieved by the coalition with the PSD and PPM in the Democratic Alliance, which recovers the two years in which the CDS was without parliamentary representation, which happened under the leadership of “Chicão”.

Nuno Melo’s predecessor at the head of the CDS also considered that the campaign “didn’t go well for AD”, because it was a “victory that tasted like a draw” and “a parade of protagonists from the past who were signaled the votes that we don’t want more than same”. Paulo Portas was in the AD campaign.

How the AD should act

Moving forward, Rodrigues dos Santos considers that the AD (whose “dramatization of the useful vote did not work”) should speak to Chega in Parliament. “I defend that in Parliament everyone should speak to everyone, voting based on origin should not be excluded.”

The centrist even says that “the best way to deal with a party is not to take away its responsibilities, it is to call it to responsibility”, it is for him to “commit to a concrete policy”, and “not to sell utopias to people”.

And in this dialogue Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos, now a supporter of the CDS in the center, says that “AD should have a structured dialogue with the PS”. He even praised Pedro Nuno’s phrase that the time for political tactics was over, and attacked Rui Rocha for not having yet secured a partnership with the PSD (“Rui is rock, but his convictions are straw”).

Silence and the present

This was the first interview that Rodrigues dos Santos gave after two years, as he began to emphasize in the interview with CNN, because he wanted, with “silence”, not to interfere in the leadership. “What they didn’t have the courtesy not to do to me,” he said. It was the first thing he said, as was also the case in his last statements in 2022: “Friendly fire kills.”

Regarding not having been included in the lists for Parliament, “Chicão” de-dramatized – but attacking Melo. “I’m not at all bitter about not being included. All the signs that the party president has given since his election have never been towards including diversity within the CDS, especially a large majority of activists who were affected by the leadership I exercised.”

Unsurprisingly, Rodrigues dos Santos had already been away from the meetings that the party promoted to define the strategy (including for early legislative elections).

The future

In 2022, he had said that he would not do to his successor what was done to him, but now, in 2024, after the anticipated legislative elections, he gave an interview in which he criticized Melo’s performance. “I’m not going to walk around because I’ve always been here and I’m going to stay here”, he said then.

Now, asked by CNN Portugal about whether political life is behind him, Rodrigues dos Santos left the hypotheses open: “I’m not closing that door, but I’m not opening it either.” He was a father, dedicated himself to law, is taking a new degree in Psychology: “my life is fulfilled and fulfilled”, he said, leaving a safeguard: “I continue to be interested in the country.”