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The PSD presented a proposal to modify the Statute of Deputies that, if approved, will allow to overcome the problem of André Ventura and other cases of parliamentarians who can request the suspension of their mandate. This is not, the Social Democrats safeguard, an amendment to the law Currant and designed exclusively for the case of the deputy and leader of Chega, but rather a way to start fighting against afunctionalist view”On the role of deputy.
The bill is expected to enter Parliament on Wednesday. For the observer, André Coelho Lima, deputy and vice president of the PSD, explains that the objective is to improve a law, that of the Statute of Deputies, which is “anachronistic and misfit” and “channels” access to politics.
Our goal should be to attract the best and not alienate the best. The current Statute of Deputies removes those who did not want to submit to a vision of proletarian deputies ”, he defends.
If it is true that the changes proposed by the PSD would allow André Ventura to suspend the mandate to be a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, they would also allow another parliamentarian who decided to take two months to specialize in a certain area (and then return) or to caring for a seriously ill family member.
The Social Democrats do not hide that this proposed amendment was born from the Ventura case. On Tuesday, Parliament rejected the request of the Chega deputy, who intended to suspend the mandate to run for the presidency of the Republic and be replaced by Diogo Pacheco Amorim, number two of the party for the Lisbon constituency and great ideologue of the party.
The decision of the deputies who voted against Ventura’s request was based, fundamentally, on the reading, without further ado, of the Statute of Deputies, which says, in its article 5, that the figure of the temporary suspension of the mandate of the deputy is only foreseen in three cases: “Serious illness that implies impediment to the exercise of the functions for a period not less than 30 days nor more than 180”; “Exercise of maternity or paternity leave”; “Need to guarantee the monitoring of the process [judicial ou similar] in accordance with article 11 (3) ”. None of the three apply, of course, to Ventura.
Parliament prevents (for now) suspension of Ventura’s mandate
It is precisely this article that the Social Democrats want to change. First, adding a paragraph that says that the deputies can request the suspension of the mandate to “serious personal or professional reasons“. Now, this change would allow Ventura (but other members who may request a suspension of the mandate) have greater freedom of choice.
To avoid any abusive recourse to this file, the PSD understands that the suspension of the mandate can only occur once per legislative session (per year) and will have a 6 month maximum limit per legislature (period corresponding to four years).
The Social Democrats also want to change the current term that serves as a reference in cases of illness. The current law says that the suspension of the mandate is accepted as long as it is not a matter of “serious illness that implies preventing the exercise of functions for a period of no less than 30 days or more than 180”, a maximum limit that, in the opinion of the PSD is completely arbitrary and can motivate situations of utter injustice.
In the explanatory memorandum framed by the bill, the PSD recognizes that the amendment to the diploma arises as a consequence of the controversy involving André Ventura. Still, the Social Democrats want to start from this case to make a more profound (albeit minimalist) change for the “defense of dignity” of the role of dignity and a “purely functionalist view of parliamentr “, which” encourages dependence on party life. “This opinion does not ennoble the role of deputy. The role of deputy must be deproletarianized“, They argue.
After sending the bill to Parliament, PSD will request that the diploma be considered with urgency at the next leadership conference (Jan 6). To be urgently appreciated, you need unanimity, which can give clues about the vote of each party.
In 2016, for example, the Left Bloc, which has always criticized the changes introduced in 2009 to the Statute of Deputies currently in force, proposed something very similar: that the suspension of the mandate be authorized when questioned.important reasons related to the life and interests of the deputyAnd even for “the exercise of specific functions in the respective party.”
It remains to be seen what the Bloc and other parties will do when they are asked to vote on the PSD diploma. André Ventura has already advanced to the Supreme Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court.
Ventura appeals to the Supreme Administrative Court to try to suspend mandate
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