At a press conference held at the PS headquarters in Lisbon, Marcos Perestrello, spokesperson for the Socialist Party’s election campaign, addressed queries from journalists regarding the National Election Commission’s (CNE) decision to dismiss two complaints lodged by the PS. These complaints pertained to invitations for government sessions alleged to be governmental advertising during the electoral period for the legislative elections.
“The PSD has been manipulating the CNE, undermining its credibility by appointing politically trusted individuals rather than public administration technicians to roles where such appointments are expected. These appointed individuals include a chief of staff, a young advisor, and a former chairman of the Lisbon PSD branch,” he charged.
The socialist leader further highlighted another deliberation, which the PS was only informally aware of, where the CNE allegedly informed the Prime Minister to remove certain information from the official Government website. This directive stemmed from concerns that the information from the Ministry of Environment failed to meet the required standards of impartiality.
Pointing out that this body comprises party and state representatives, Marcos Perestrello noted that, diverging from the tradition of appointing experts, this time, appointments included the chief of staff of the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, a young advisor from the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ office, and a former president of the PSD’s Lisbon Concelhia.
“These three state representatives have consistently voted en bloc with the PSD and CDS representatives, and there are no records of any vote that contradicts the interests advocated by the PSD and CDS,” he alleged.
As the lead PS candidate in Santarém, he noted both complaints by the PS were dismissed against the advice of CNE services.
“This bloc united to vote against the services’ opinion of the CNE. I believe this may perhaps reveal something about the motivations behind these decisions,” he hinted.
According to the minutes of the deliberation on the two complaints submitted on March 22, which Lusa accessed, the CNE concluded that in none of the reported cases was there a breach of neutrality duties by the public entities involved in the complaints.
One complaint targeted the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for an invitation to the presentation session of the Forest Intervention Plan, and another against the Board of Directors of Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) and the Mayor of Tondela.
The issues involved invitations to the presentation session of the Forest Intervention Plan and the ceremony for signing the contract for the IP3 works — Santa Comba Dão/Viseu section, both attended by the Prime Minister, which the socialists deemed to be institutional advertising—prohibited from the moment the decree dissolving parliament is published and the election date is set.
