The president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, ruled out this Tuesday the possibility of heading the social-democratic list for the Porto City Council, but was available to help the PSD “find the best candidate” for the municipality.
“This question does not arise because I am president of the Assembly of the Republic and I have already expressed my availability to help my party find the best candidate for Porto”, said the president of parliament and former minister on the sidelines of the conference “O Porto da Freedom”.
Asked about the idea that he is the best positioned personality to lead the PSD ticket in the elections for the mayor of Porto Alegre, scheduled for next year, Aguiar-Branco reinforced that the question “does not arise”.
“I am president of the Assembly of the Republic and I am available to help my party find the best candidate”, he assured.
At the beginning of the month, in an interview with Observador, Aguiar-Branco stressed that being president of the Porto Chamber, after leaving the second position in the State hierarchy, would not be “going from a horse to a donkey”.
José Pedro Aguiar-Branco returned to the Assembly of the Republic, five years after leaving it, as president, but with a mandate of only two and a half years due to an agreement between the PSD and the PS, who have elected the same same number of deputies.
The former Minister of Justice was elected president of the Porto Municipal Assembly in October 2005 by the coalition “For Porto, once again” (PSD/CDS), led by Rui Rio.
José Pedro Correia de Aguiar-Branco was born in 1957, was a deputy between 2005 and 2019, having held the position of Minister of Defense in the Government led by Passos Coelho between 2011 and 2015 and Minister of Justice in the short-lived PSD/CDS-PP Government headed by Pedro Santana Lopes (2003-2004).
In the legislative elections on March 10, he was elected deputy for the AD coalition (which brings together PSD, CDS-PP and PPM) as head of the list for Viana do Castelo.
In addition to being a minister in two Governments led by the PSD, he was president of the social democratic parliamentary group in the XI Legislature and vice-president of the party from April 2008 to March 2010, during the leadership of Manuela Ferreira Leite.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
