The candidacy led by the current spokesperson announced that the slate for the National Political Commission, to be elected at the next Congress in December in Coimbra, will be officially presented soon, aiming to “bring a new dynamic to the party”.
The sole representative in parliament has been leading PAN since June 2021, when she was the sole candidate at the Congress held in Tomar. The current leader succeeded André Silva, the first deputy the party had in the Assembly of the Republic, and was re-elected at the Congress in May 2023 after securing 72% of the votes.
Sousa Real’s current term has been marked by internal disagreements within the party, particularly since the legislative elections in May. Following these elections, at least seven members resigned from the national political commission, and dozens of members, including former deputy Bebiana Cunha, announced their departure from the party.
The former parliamentarian Bebiana Cunha left, criticizing a lack of “ideological coherence” and “absence of self-criticism”. Her opinion was echoed by other resigning members, such as former leaders Nuno Maria Costa, who spoke of a “party that is not recommended and trustworthy”, and Carlos Macedo, who saw a party “without direction, completely adrift” with impaired internal freedom of opinion.
After more than 30 members announced their departure, PAN’s leadership issued a statement noting a “continuous increase in the number of new affiliations” and pointed out that “the departures of members who had been inactive in the party for several months or years are merely a formalization of personal disconnections that naturally occur”.
The X National Congress of PAN will be held next December in Coimbra with the aim of preparing a “new political and organizational stage” and electing the party’s national political commission, as announced by the leadership today.
In a statement sent to the newsrooms, PAN announced that the call for the X National Congress in December, without a specified day yet, was requested today to the National Political Commission Board by spokesperson Inês de Sousa Real and her leadership.
According to PAN’s statutes, the National Congress deliberates on statutes, political orientation, and programmatic objectives, and is responsible for electing the National Political Commission – from which the party’s spokesperson emerges – and the National Jurisdiction Council.
