“Once again, the PAN is running across the entire country and all electoral districts. In 2024, we managed to increase our representation, nearly electing a second deputy and forming a parliamentary group. This is exactly what we want to ask of the Portuguese: to give us the strength of a parliamentary group so we can further the flags and causes they identify with,” argued Inês Sousa Real.
Inês Sousa Real spoke to journalists at the Palace of Justice in Lisbon after submitting the party’s candidate lists for the early legislative elections in May, with the deadline ending today.
Setting the goal of “reclaiming the parliamentary group,” which the PAN first achieved in 2019 with four deputies, the leader emphasized that the party has been “a political force open to dialogue,” whether with the right-wing government of Luís Montenegro or the socialist government of António Costa.
“We have indeed been a political force open to dialogue, prioritizing the interests of the Portuguese and addressing significant challenges, from combating domestic violence and corruption to the climate crisis, without neglecting animal protection. The PAN has been precisely the one providing these answers,” she listed.
Asked about the televised debates starting today and the decision by the PSD/CDS-PP coalition to be represented by the centrist president Nuno Melo in the debate with the PAN, Inês Sousa Real stated that the party is still “internally reflecting” on who will represent them in the debate.
“With the certainty that turning their back on this debate from Luís Montenegro is turning their back on the Portuguese people,” she criticized.
The PAN spokesperson expressed understanding for those “tired and fed up with not seeing solutions to their day-to-day problems” and the constant “political games or media crises caused by the major parties, particularly PSD, PS, and Chega.”
“At this moment, we believe people are aware that voting for these major parties is a completely useless vote,” she remarked.
Sousa Real assured that the party intends to conduct a “clean campaign, with joy and enthusiasm.”
In the last legislative elections, held last year, the PAN obtained 1.95% of the votes, amounting to 126,085 ballots, electing Inês Sousa Real as the sole deputy.
In 2019, the PAN gained its first parliamentary group, composed of André Silva (then leader and now dissociated from the party), Inês Sousa Real, Bebiana Cunha, and Cristina Rodrigues, who also left the party and is currently a deputy for Chega.
In the subsequent 2022 elections, the PAN lost the parliamentary group, returning to single representation, which it currently maintains.
As per the schedule released by the National Election Commission (CNE), candidacies for the early legislative elections on May 18 must be submitted by the 41st day prior to the election date, which is today, to the presiding judge of the district court in the capital of the electoral district.
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