During the approximately three hours between the start of activities and the lunch break around 13:30, several dozen supporters took to the stage of the pavilion where the IL National Convention is taking place in Alcobaça, with criticism directed at the party’s leadership.
Margarida Pouseiro, who admitted she might run for the party leadership, urged all members present at the Convention to cast blank votes in the election of Mariana Leitão, “so that the legitimacy of the sole candidate becomes even more weakened”.
The member harshly criticized the leadership and current path of IL, stating that while she supports meritocracy and equal opportunities, internally, the party promotes “dynastic successions and internal power grabs so no one can enter”.
“Internally, we are very similar to other parties. We aspire to be the Government of the Republic, yet we are the first to trample on statutes and laws,” she accused.
The party member José Carlos Batista arrived at the Convention podium with a copy of “A Queda de um Anjo”, a novel by Camilo Castelo Branco about the disenchantment and accommodation process of a provincial politician turned national deputy.
José Carlos Baptista defined IL as “a different party” given it has “so many and such good cadres” that it does not need to always nominate the same people.
“Someone forgot to inform” the candidate for party president, Mariana Leitão, he criticized, referring to her candidacies for various positions.
“The parliamentary leader deputy who ran for President of the Republic, then reran for deputy, then again for parliamentary leader, and finally as a candidate for Party President,” he criticized, stating that Mariana Leitão “will find a position so good that she will no longer run for any other”.
The member Bruno Sanches argued that Mariana Leitão will have the opportunity to “consolidate a new phase” in the party where “meritocracy is essential”, but “cannot continue to change leadership in the middle of the mandate”.
For this congressman, “merit, ambition, and demand” are important, but “a leader needs time”, because “trust is built and not inherited”.
A party that aims to govern, he concluded, “needs to show stability, vision, and strategic continuity”.
In a remote intervention, João Robalo lamented the “party’s decision to align with some political dinosaurs from PSD, the oldest to the most recent, in some of the main municipalities of the country”.
“The party may gain positions with this, but it loses opportunities to make a difference with its ideas,” he emphasized before continuing a discussion on education.
There were also expressions of support, with Paulo Trezentos adapting the slogan in support of Prime Minister Vasco Gonçalves during the Revolutionary Process in Progress (PREC), “strength, strength comrade Vasco, we will be the steel wall”.
“Strength, strength, Mariana, IL does not falter,” declared Paulo Trezentos.
