The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs expressed himself this Sunday as being “strongly committed” to the “patriotic mission” at the service of the Government, ruling out “at this point” the possibility of being a candidate for the Porto chamber.
“I am strongly committed to a mission, I see it as a patriotic mission to serve the Government of Portugal, and I am 100% focused on that, at this point I am not offering any other option”, said Pedro Duarte, upon arrival at the 42nd National Congress of PSD, when asked if he would be a candidate for Mayor of Porto.
Pedro Duarte, who is also president of the District Political Commission of the Porto PSD, stated that “there are circumstances in which the candidacies are already on the ground, there are names already chosen and there are other circumstances in which it makes sense to start by preparing a project, an idea for cities, for municipalities and then materialize with applications, I think it will be like that in Porto”.
Asked if he will be the PSD candidate for mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte replied that he doesn’t say he will never be: “I’ve had enough years to know that we shouldn’t say never but, in all sincerity, at this point I don’t consider that hypothesis, nor It would make a lot of sense to be there because the mission I am carrying out in the Government requires total commitment from me, it wouldn’t make sense for me to have one foot in and one foot out”.
Faced with the news in the newspaper Public this Sunday, that the leader of the PS invited Fernando Araújo, former executive director of the National Health Service, to head the socialist list for the Porto municipality, Pedro Duarte refused to put pressure on the PSD.
“In the PSD we have the stability, the serenity, the tranquility enough to make choices at the right time. If other party forces already show confusion in this regard, it is very respectable but it is not the same as the PSD”, he declared.
And he continued: “The PSD has its path and the path will be drawn with the city and potential opponents in mind, the path is outlined and this will not change depending on other parties”, he stated.
Regarding the congress, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, in Braga, the holder of the Parliamentary Affairs portfolio was satisfied with the progress of the work and with the message coming out of this major party meeting.
“This congress showed a lot of internal unity in the party, great cohesion, great stability, I would say it is this serenity, which has a lot to do with the profile of our leader, Luis Montenegro, and which allows us to leave with renewed energy to next year”, he pondered.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
