Members of parliament addressed a press conference at the Assembly of the Republic, following a decision in a parliamentary leaders’ meeting that deputies will only be able to register and vote electronically from computers installed at assigned party seats.
This measure prevents Livre party deputies, who have contested their plenary seating arrangements, from registering or voting electronically from seats allocated to other parties.
Isabel Mendes Lopes, also the parliamentary leader of Livre, reiterated her objection to the seating arrangement for the party’s six deputies, who have been assigned seats in a non-contiguous manner across the first, second, and last rows of the chamber.
The deputies argue that this distribution hinders communication among parliamentarians during sessions and affects media coverage, blaming PSD and Chega for the situation, while also criticizing the President of the Assembly, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
Isabel Mendes Lopes noted that aside from seating, her party is also disadvantaged in the allocation of debate times among parties.
She pointed out that in the previous legislature, the Left Bloc elected five deputies—one less than Livre’s current six—yet the speaking times allocated to Livre are not equivalent to those earlier allotted to the Left Bloc.
“Livre’s speaking times have increased, but only slightly and not proportionately. Once again, Livre is being disadvantaged,” she remarked.
Another issue raised pertains to representation in the Standing Committee—which functions when parliamentary sessions are suspended—where Livre claims to be unfairly treated compared to the Liberal Initiative.
“This is an attempt to undermine Livre, the left-wing party that has grown,” she asserted.
Isabel Mendes Lopes denied that Livre is “playing victim” and maintained that the party will continue to forgo using the front-row seats in the Session Room as a form of protest.
Rui Tavares stated, “Livre is neither more nor less than anyone else,” arguing that all parliamentary groups, including the smallest ones like CDS-PP, are visible in parliament, while Livre’s group is scattered.
“You get to where the Livre parliamentary group should be and it’s like playing ‘Where’s Waldo.’ The distribution—not the one proposed by the services, but by PSD’s parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares—is two Livre deputies here, two there, two elsewhere,” he critiqued.
Tavares specifically targeted Hugo Soares, accusing him of wanting “eight seats in the first row, which is bizarre and rare in the parliament’s history.”
“For the sake of that eighth deputy in the first row, Hugo Soares completely distorts Livre’s parliamentary representation until it is no longer visible. It’s a strategy of repeated and intentional invisibility,” accused Rui Tavares.
