Montenegro has prepared for elections "already tomorrow", but does not want them

At the end of the debate, Luís Montenegro was asked by reporters in parliament - where he followed the discussion on IL's no-confidence motion against the government - if it made sense for the party to abstain , which severely criticized the socialist executive.

“I think that makes sense. These criticisms are criticisms of demand, strong opposition, examination and inspection. It is not because we are in complete disagreement with the policy of the Government and with the confusion installed within the Government that we are going to want a third electoral legislative act in three years, we have already been in disagreement since the first day”, he justified.

Luís Montenegro, however, stressed that the PSD "respects the people's verdict" in the January 30 elections and that "it is necessary to give the government time to take advantage of the absolute majority" granted to it at the polls. .

“I am not saying that it is impossible for the legislature to be interrupted because of the pure and hard incapacity of the Government”, he however added.

When asked whether it is ready for early elections, Montenegro answered in the affirmative.

“I am not at all afraid to go to the elections, I would be happy if they were disputed directly with Dr. Antonio Costa. I'm ready for the elections when it has to be, if it has to be tomorrow, it's tomorrow. Which does not mean that I want my country, the Portuguese, to have an electoral process launched less than a year after another and resulting in a majority that I must respect,” he said.

Luís Montenegro said that he would have liked the Prime Minister to announce during today's debate "how he intends to provide family doctors to all Portuguese people", "to put the emergency services fully operational", "how to make the economy grow more" or that he would tax less.

“Unfortunately, the Prime Minister did not respond to all of this, he got mixed up in the confusion and the affairs in which the government got involved,” he said.

The PSD leader accused Costa of wanting to reintroduce the “theory of the devil” in the country, but felt that currently “the devil is inside the government, in its lack of cohesion and transformative spirit”.

“Either the government changes its life, or the Portuguese ask Portugal to change the government,” he warned, repeating a sentence on which several PSD personalities have insisted in recent days.

The Assembly of the Republic today rejected the motion of censure against the government presented by the Liberal Initiative, the PS, the PCP and the Livre having voted against and the PSD, the BE and the PAN having abstained.

Chega was the only parliamentary group to support the Liberal Initiative by voting in favor of the government's censure motion.

The only two MPs were torn between abstaining and voting against. Rui Tavares of Livre voted against and Inês Sousa Real of PAN abstained.