In a press conference announcing the new name of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, following its initial rejection by the Constitutional Court, Hugo Soares issued a challenge to the Secretary-General of the PS.
“I would like to ask Dr. Pedro Nuno Santos what diminishes Hernâni Dias as a candidate and lead on the PSD list in the upcoming legislative elections [in Bragança] that he himself doesn’t possess, or that the Secretary of State from the previous PS Government Hugo Mendes, who is also running on the lists, lacks,” he remarked.
The PSD official argued that Hernâni Dias left the government “not due to poor governance, not for harming the public treasury, nor for making a decision as a ruler that was wrong for the Portuguese people,” but because “in his personal life, he made a choice incompatible with the role of a government official.”
Hernâni Dias resigned from his role as Secretary of State for Spatial Planning following reports that he had established a real estate company while in office, during a time when the land law was being revised.
“Pedro Nuno Santos left the government for disgracing himself,” accused Soares. “He chose to negatively impact the public treasury by approximately 500,000 euros by authorizing via WhatsApp a compensation to a TAP administrator, at the request and suggestion of the then Secretary of State who is also on the lists,” he continued.
Hugo Soares emphasized that Pedro Nuno Santos “was not ashamed to run for Prime Minister,” accusing him of “real political hypocrisy.”
“The challenge I would like to present to Pedro Nuno Santos is for him to make this comparison, to explain to the Portuguese people the difference between him and Hernâni Dias. And there are many differences,” he highlighted.
Last Friday, when asked about Hernâni Dias’s inclusion on the PSD lists, Pedro Nuno Dias displayed no surprise.
“If Luís Montenegro is there, why shouldn’t Hernâni Dias be?” he questioned.
During today’s press conference, the PSD Secretary-General was asked about the PSD parliamentary candidate Fernando Queiroga, noting that he was convicted in the first instance in 2009 and served a penalty by paying a fine 15 years ago.
“I see no reason, therefore, why he should be inhibited from candidacy,” he defended.
