Deputies try to elect the president of parliament today for the fourth time – Politics

• Photo: Bruno Colaço/Jornal de Negócios

Assembly of the Republic

Deputies will meet again this Wednesday in plenary at 12pm to try to elect, for the fourth time, the president of the Assembly of the Republic, after three failed attempts on Tuesday.

The impasse in the election of the State’s second figure led to, after 11pm on Tuesday, PCP deputy António Filipe, who temporarily presides over parliament, in the first plenary session of the XVI legislature, announcing that work would be resumed this Wednesday at 12:00 pm and that applications could be submitted until 11:00 am.

At issue is the election of the president of the Assembly of the Republic, which must be held at the first plenary meeting of the legislature by an absolute majority of the votes of the deputies in office (116).

The first election of the president of parliament, carried out by secret vote, began at 3 pm, with only the social democratic deputy José Pedro Aguiar-Branco as candidate.

At 5 pm, the first failure of this election for President of the Assembly of the Republic was announced, as the former Minister of Defense obtained 89 votes in favor, 134 blank and seven null.

About an hour later the PSD withdrew its candidacy, but at 7pm the former Minister of Defense resubmitted it.

At the same time, the PS decided to move forward with the candidacy of Francisco Assis and Chega of Manuela Tender.

In the first round, the socialist wins by a short margin (90 against 88 for Aguiar-Branco) and Chega’s deputy would be left behind with 49 votes.

In the second round – third election attempt -, another failure was repeated, with very similar results: 90 votes for Assis and 88 for Aguiar-Branco, without either of them achieving the necessary absolute majority of votes in favor.