The parliamentary leader of the PSD today accused Livre of disregarding the seating arrangement in the chamber, leading the parliament president to emphasize that the decisions must be adhered to and that the issue will be brought to the leaders’ conference.
The issue was raised by the Social Democratic parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, who, at the end of the first debate of the day in plenary, pointed out that the Livre parliamentary group was not occupying their designated seats according to the decision voted on June 18.
Rui Tavares responded by explaining that Livre, choosing not to occupy their front-row seat and instead sitting in seats allocated to the socialist bench in other rows, is protesting against the seating arrangement designated to its deputies and will not sit in the first row “until the issue is resolved.”
The president of the parliament, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, acknowledged Livre’s decision and pledged to bring the matter to the leaders’ conference, but insisted that the seating arrangement was approved by the plenary’s majority and must be respected, even if it doesn’t match everyone’s wishes.
“Sometimes, decisions don’t align with our wishes, but when there’s no consensus, the rules state that the plenary majority decides, and the decision has obligatory consequences,” he emphasized.
Hugo Soares further noted that if the resolution is postponed until the next leaders’ conference, four PS deputies will be without seats as their places are currently occupied by Livre deputies.
In response, Pedro Delgado Alves from PS stated that the socialists were informed about Livre’s decision and would not “police” the distribution of the party deputies, adding that there are available seats since some are absent.
“Obviously, if the entire bench were present, we would have a delicate situation. But I don’t think we gain anything by prolonging this issue and make a final appeal, which is difficult,” he said.
Aguiar-Branco ended the matter, preventing further interventions from deputies, despite persistent requests from Livre spokesperson Rui Tavares to speak.
The parliament approved on June 18 the seating plan in the hemicycle of the Assembly of the Republic in a historic vote, with Livre contesting their bench’s placement and PSD hearing accusations of intransigence.
Deputies approved, with votes in favor from PSD, Chega, and CDS-PP, and abstentions from IL and PAN, the proposal by the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, which places, from right to left in the first row of the chamber, five deputies from Chega, one from CDS, two from Iniciativa Liberal, eight from PSD, five from PS, two from Livre, and one from PCP.
