The president of Chega said today that the new Socialist leader is “totally unprepared to be prime minister”, accusing him of hypocrisy for not apologizing for the governments to which he belonged and of being a follower of António Costa.
Pedro Nuno Santos “is a totally unprepared person to be prime minister,” André Ventura said today, reacting to the former minister’s election as secretary-general of the PS, with 62% of the votes, in direct elections held between Friday and Saturday, which he contested with José Luís Carneiro, who came second with 36%, and Daniel Adrião, who had 1% of the votes.
“What we heard yesterday [Saturday] from Pedro Nuno Santos, in addition to a poorly delivered speech, was a very unsuccessful intervention, absolute unpreparedness, an attempt to bring a kind of grocery list to present to the Portuguese, trying to capture all kinds of electorates in an absolutely inconsistent way and in an absolutely electioneering way and without any line of preparation and effective work,” commented the Chega leader, speaking to journalists at the party’s headquarters in Lisbon.
Ventura criticized the fact that “the only concrete idea” presented by the new Socialist secretary-general was that the State Budget for 2024, approved by António Costa’s executive, would be complied with.
“It’s an absolute following of what António Costa’s government has done and which has given the results it has given in health, education, the economy, justice, etc.,” said André Ventura, who was speaking on the sidelines of the election of delegates to the Chega congress, which takes place in January.
On the other hand, the Chega leader highlighted what he said was Pedro Nuno Santos’ “blatant inability” to “self-criticize” in relation to the two executives to which he belonged, both led by Costa.
“It is tremendously hypocritical or bad faith or unconscious that the new leader of the Socialist Party is able to present himself to the country without starting by saying ‘I’m sorry’, without starting by saying, ‘I apologize for the disastrous results that the governments I belonged to brought to the country’,” he criticized.
“This is the most hypocritical and inconsistent Socialist Party leader we could have. But there he doesn’t differ much from António Costa. Where he differs from António Costa is in his absolute unpreparedness, in his grocery store speech, in the typical speech of a partisan youth that he made yesterday [Saturday], instead of speaking to the country and showing design, ambition and the will to change,” he said.
In relation to the outgoing Minister of Internal Affairs, who is his opponent in the race for the leadership of the PS, André Ventura draws a distinction: “Pedro Nuno Santos has a characteristic that José Luís Carneiro wouldn’t have, he is radically rooted in the left and in the worst left,” he said, alluding to the ‘geringonça’ between the PS, PCP and Left Bloc in António Costa’s first executive.
“When this is the case, voters who don’t want a country that is even further to the left than the one we have, which has overburdened the Portuguese with taxes, must give new strength to the right, which can fight against this solution,” he said.
Regarding the legislative elections on March 10, he stressed that Chega’s opponent is the PS, distancing himself from the debate on the right about coalitions.
“Chega stands on its own, it needs neither the CDS, nor an alliance, nor any other parties, nor the Liberal Initiative to increase its votes. Chega is safe. Apparently, the PSD is not secure and needs to find crutches to carry it until March 10. We are very sure of the strength we have. We’re very strong in all the districts and we’re going to stand alone in the elections,” he said.
Montenegro believes that the new PS leader’s speech “squeezes and nothing comes out”
