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The President of the Republic considered it “desirable” that the PCP Congress, between November 27 and 29, be held in accordance with the rules of the state of emergency, despite the law that safeguards political meetings.
This position was transmitted by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in statements to journalists, after being present at a mass at the Sanctuary of Fatima in honor of the victims of the covid-19.
“It is true that the law expressly establishes that political and union activity cannot be affected by the state of emergency. There is an article there. But it is also true that the perception (I have spoken about it many times) is that what is determined for some it is also determined for all ”, said the head of state, after being asked about the PCP Congress, in Loures, in the Lisbon district.
According to the President of the Republic, “the measures that are adopted, which will depend a lot on the evolution of the figures in the coming days, is desirable for everyone.”
The regime of the state of siege and the state of exception establishes that “the meetings of the statutory bodies of political parties, unions and professional associations shall in no case be prohibited, dissolved or subject to prior authorization.”
In this context, the Government decree exempts “heads of sovereign bodies, leaders of social partners and political parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic from the restrictions on movement.”
Asked how the National Congress of the PCP, in Loures, could be made compatible with the curfew rules, if they are currently in that municipality of the Lisbon district, the head of state argued that this is possible under the following conditions:
“The curfew compatible with political meetings is possible because the curfew begins at a certain time and the meetings can end until that time, all of them. All political, religious, social and economic meetings can take place in the period in which the one with no curfew, in theory. The curfew begins at 23:00, “he observed.
Marcelo de Sousa stressed that it is possible to have meetings “during the day, in the morning, in the afternoon and even early in the evening, without going past 23:00.”
“One thing seems obvious: from what I will hear from the parties this week, what is decided in a state of emergency for the future will be the same for everyone,” he said.
But the President of the Republic also left a warning: “If there is a general rule in a difficult situation, with increasing numbers, and when the number of infected grows it means that the number of hospitalized patients, patients in intensive care and deaths, with a distance of a month and a half and sometimes two months, then it is better to be safe than sorry and to find solutions that are accepted more peacefully by society ”, he emphasized.
Before journalists, the head of state defended that “there is more moral authority” if the rules were the same for everyone “than if specific solutions could be found for very specific cases.”
“It was also what led the Government to eliminate many exceptions that had been made. The doubt arose at times: there is a general rule but there are so many exceptions that it is not clear which is the general rule and which is the exception,” he said .
In the statements he made, the President of the Republic also left a warning: “The worst that could happen in Portuguese society is the confrontation between those who want the economy to open quickly and those who fear that this opening will sacrifice lives and Health “. “We have to avoid this,” he added.
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