PSD invited António Filipe, PCP deputy, to preside over the first session, as he is considered the oldest parliamentarian serving in the Assembly of the Republic.
The Assembly of the Republic elected in the legislative elections on March 10 meets today for the first time and will elect the new president of parliament, as well as the vice-presidents and secretaries. The first plenary meeting of the 16th legislature – with nine parties represented, one more than in the previous one, the CDS – is divided into two parts, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
In the first part, at 10 am, with the 230 new parliamentarians elected on March 10, the eventual committee to verify the powers of the elected deputies will be approved, in a meeting that usually lasts a few minutes.
As, at this time, there will still be no president of the Assembly of the Republic elected and the outgoing president, Augusto Santos Silva, is not a deputy, it is up to the party with the most votes, the PSD, to invite one of the outgoing vice-presidents who has been re-elected or the longest-serving deputy to temporarily direct the work.
The PSD invited António Filipe, PCP deputy, to preside over the first session, as he is considered the oldest parliamentarian serving in the Assembly of the Republic.
After the approval of the resolution that determines the eventual commission to verify powers, work will be interrupted and resumed again at 3 pm, when the new president of parliament will be elected.
Until the end of Monday afternoon, only the candidacy proposed by the PSD of José Pedro Aguiar-Branco was known, which Chega expressed its intention to support, saying that the Social Democrats will also give an indication for their candidates to be approved for vice and secretaries of the Board.
The election of the President of the Assembly of the Republic is by secret vote and the deputies are called, in alphabetical order, to vote in a ballot box in the center of the session room. Once voting is complete, the session is suspended again to determine the results.
According to the regulations, “the candidate who obtains the absolute majority of the votes of the deputies in office” is elected president of the Assembly of the Republic.
“If none of the candidates obtains this number of votes, a second ballot will immediately take place, in which only the two candidates with the most votes who have not withdrawn their candidacy will compete. If no candidate is elected, the process is reopened”, states the rules.
The election of the remaining Board of the Assembly of the Republic will also take place today – which, in addition to the president, includes four vice-presidents, four secretaries and four vice-secretaries – and the Board of Directors.
The new president of the Assembly of the Republic will speak, followed by interventions from the parliamentary groups.
For the first time, deputies will also have to sign a term of office, in which they solemnly affirm that they will faithfully perform the functions in which they are invested and defend, comply with and enforce the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.
The Democratic Alliance coalition, which brought together PSD/CDS/PPM, won the elections on March 10th and Luís Montenegro was appointed prime minister by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, to whom he will present his government on March 28th. The inauguration is scheduled for April 2nd.
In the new parliament, the PSD will have 78 deputies (one more than in the previous legislature), the PS will also have 78 (42 fewer), Chega increases from 12 to 50 parliamentarians, the Liberal Initiative maintains its eight deputies and the Left Bloc its five which it already had, while the PCP drops from six to four. Livre grows from one to four and PAN maintains its only deputy. The CDS returns to parliament with two deputies.
