With this measure, members of the Livre party, who have contested the seating arrangements assigned to them in the plenary, will no longer be able to register for a session or vote electronically from seats allocated to other benches.
According to an official from the presidency of the Assembly of the Republic, the rule proposed by José Pedro Aguiar-Branco “aims to ensure the smooth functioning of sessions in the plenary chamber.”
“In the past, other changes have been made, such as the timer to limit the duration of each intervention. These adjustments should not be interpreted as being against anyone,” the same official from José Pedro Aguiar-Branco’s office added, referencing the protest made by the six Livre deputies against the seating distribution in the plenary already approved.
Last Friday, in protest, the Livre deputies left the first row in the chamber unoccupied again, despite warnings from the parliament president not to do so during votes.
On that day, before the voting period began, the president of the Assembly of the Republic asked the Livre deputies to occupy their allocated seats in the front row of the chamber, which were empty.
The parliamentary leader of Livre, Isabel Mendes Lopes, argued that the four deputies present (out of a total of six) were sitting in the seats assigned to them and would cast their votes from those places in the second and third rows.
Prior to this incident, the president of the Assembly of the Republic had already advised, through an email sent last Thursday to all parliamentary groups, that respect for the plenary seat allocations assigned to different benches is essential to avoid issues during votes, and ensures the functional organization and dignity of parliamentary proceedings.
The disagreement over plenary seat distribution has been a contentious issue between, notably, the PSD and Livre since the beginning of this Legislature.
In the text sent to different benches, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco noted that the Assembly of the Republic “is governed by principles of pluralism, democratic representation, and respect for common rules, agreed upon by all parties represented in parliament.”
He further emphasized that “the distribution of seats in the plenary results from a plenary resolution of the Assembly and aims to ensure the functional organization and dignity of parliamentary work.”
“The decision made followed general criteria, strictly adhered to the provisions in the Rules of Procedure, and was validated accordingly. The president of the Assembly of the Republic does not impose individual decisions but enforces collective decisions,” José Pedro Aguiar-Branco highlights.
The parliament president then stresses that the distribution of seats in the plenary “is not arbitrary and is essential to guarantee the organization of work by the table, the regular functioning of votes, and the identification of deputies during sessions.”
“I also remind that votes should be conducted in the places assigned to each Parliamentary Group. Voting from non-assigned places can create situations likely to generate constraints or undesirable interpretations regarding the representativeness and disposition of deputies in the chamber,” he adds.
