Portuguese Parliament elects president after pact between center-right and socialists

Lisbon (Portugal), March 27 (EFE).- Portugal's parliament elected this Wednesday the conservative deputy José Pedro Aguiar-Branco as its president after the agreement reached between the center-right coalition that won the elections, Democratic Alliance (AD), and the Socialist Party (PS), agreed to alternate the presidency.

HANDOUT IMAGES COURTESY BY PARLIAMENT OF PORTUGAL. EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

FOOTAGE OF THE APPOINTMENT OF JOSÉ PEDRO AGUIAR-BRANCO AS PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF PORTUGAL. INCLUDES STATEMENTS.

TRANSLATION:

ANTÓNIO FILIPE, PROVISIONAL PRESIDENT OF PARLIAMENT SINCE THIS TUESDAY:

1. On the 27th day of the month of March 2024, the election of the President of the Assembly of the Republic took place, having been determined the following result: voters 228, candidate José Pedro Correia de Aguiar-Branco 160 votes, candidate Rui Paulo Duque Sousa 50 votes, white votes 18 , null votes 0. In the applicable legal terms and facing the result obtained, the candidate José Pedro Correia de Aguiar-Branco is declared elected for the President of the Assembly of the Republic.

JOSÉ PEDRO AGUIAR-BRANCO, PRESIDENT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF PORTUGAL:

1. If there is something that yesterday taught us, it is that we must not give up on democracy. I do not give up. That is why I am going to challenge all the parliamentary groups to rethink the rules of procedure, especially with regard to the rules for the election of this Bureau, so that what happened yesterday and what happened before does not happen again.

2. If we are not able to understand each other in the house of democracy, what example are we giving to the outside world?