The proposal put forward by the President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, was approved with opposition from PS, Livre, PCP, and BE, while PAN and JPP abstained. The initiative received support from PSD, Chega, IL, and CDS-PP.
The Standing Committee, which operates when parliamentary work is suspended, will comprise 46 deputies in the current legislature. In addition to the president and vice-presidents of the Assembly of the Republic, the representation will be as follows: 16 from PSD, 11 from Chega, 11 from PS, two from IL, and one each from the other parties—Livre, PCP, CDS-PP—and single seat deputies from BE, PAN, and JPP.
A proposal from PS to expand the Standing Committee to a maximum of 50 deputies was rejected. This amendment was opposed by PSD, Chega, IL, and CDS-PP, while the other parties approved it.
The socialists proposed adding one deputy from Livre “to maintain the same criteria used in parliamentary committees” and an additional deputy for PSD, Chega, and PS “to enhance the differentiation in their size.”
Thus, PS suggested the Standing Committee operate with 17 deputies from PSD, 12 each from Chega and PS, two from Livre, and one each for the remaining parties.
The PS justified this proposal by noting that neither the Regimen nor the Constitution set a maximum number of members for this body, “considering that votes taken in the Standing Committee reflect the size of each political force.”
Livre has accused PSD and Chega of having a strategy to marginalize and hinder its parliamentary work. This protest relates to both the allocation of seats in the parliament chamber and the speaking times allocated to each party during debates, as well as the number of deputies in the Standing Committee, claiming that the party is disadvantaged compared to IL.
