In a statement to IL members at Palácio Xabregas in Lisbon, where the party’s election night took place, Rui Rocha highlighted that during the campaign he had emphasized being a “guarantee of governance” and a “solution for the country,” insofar as this depended on the party.
“Looking at the results, what we see now is that possible majorities are formed. Therefore, our role will be to continue advocating our ideas in parliament, to keep telling the Portuguese people: you have here a party you can trust, which will defend you and aim to propel Portugal forward from the parliament where we will have greater representation,” he stated.
The IL leader mentioned that he is “obviously” open to “any discussions that may take place in the coming days, for all the contacts.”
“But that is our position: the trust we deserve, that we have from the Portuguese people, is the trust to remain true to ourselves, even if that sometimes means moving slower than we wished. But we will not be populists, we will not offer everything to everyone, we will not betray the trust of those who voted for us today,” he commented.
In his analysis of the party’s electoral result — which increased its number of deputies from eight to nine — Rui Rocha noted that IL grew in terms of votes, deputies, and percentage, though he admitted he aimed for more.
“We obviously wanted to grow more. I believe we did a lot during this time to earn the trust of the Portuguese people. It was not possible to grow more, I acknowledge that point,” he stated.
