Volt Portugal makes its debut in the race for parliament and wants to elect two deputies
Volt Portugal (VP) will run for early legislative changes scheduled for January 30, making its debut in the race for parliament, with the objective of electing two deputies and elevating itself as a moderate party in the center.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the president of this party that defends European federalism, Tiago de Matos Gomes, considered that the party’s entry into the Assembly of the Republic “would already be good” but admitted that the objective was to elect “two deputies” .
“I think the fact that deputies from three new parties were elected to parliament [em 2019] causes there to be a certain expectation that this time another may enter, and that the Volt will be the next party to enter the AR “, he said.
Volt Portugal – which wants to run for as many constituencies as possible – will present itself as “the party of the new generations”, an asset of society which, in the leader’s opinion, “has conditioned freedom in Portugal”, the result of current “political protagonists and the policies followed in recent years”.
“For the Volt, it is unacceptable for a young person in Luxembourg to leave his parents’ house at the age of 20 and in Portugal he can only leave when he is 30”, he lamented, shifting to “differences between the various states of the European Union, in which many of them have better conditions to give to young people and the population in general”.
Noting that the party does not neglect the older generations and the middle class, Tiago de Matos Gomes also considers “inadmissible that the average salary in Portugal is one of the lowest in all of Europe”.
The leader said he sees current political protagonists discussing “increasing contributions to Social Security” and not “a policy to seriously support births, so that later in the future there are more people to contribute”, for example.
“I think people are disillusioned with a good part of the political parties and with the classic parties and it is time to think more about the people and less about the political tactics, as is the costume. This without being populist, that is, this discontent that exists , which is latent on the one hand, is visible on the other, is aimed at parties like the Volt, which is a moderate party, from the center, and not towards the extremes, namely towards the extreme right as has happened throughout Europe and in Portugal too, at least since 2019 “, he defended.
The party thus wants to “give a new vision for the country and for Europe, another moderate alternative, outside the traditional central parties which are the PS and the PSD”, admitting that it wants to be “a pivotal party among the central parties “.
If he manages to elect representation in parliament and there is no absolute majority of any political force, Tiago de Matos Gomes says Volt Portugal will not deny talking to the party in better conditions to form a Government, “be it PS or PSD”, drawing just one Red line: “The Volt will not integrate any government solution that includes, for example, Chega”.
The party still has to approve in the National Council the regulation for the primary process, through which it chooses the list head for each constituency, foreseeing that this process is concluded “by the end of the month”.
Tiago de Matos Gomes admits that it is a challenge for a small party to prepare in such a short time, but he added that the electoral program is also being finalized at this time, with contributions from the various members – which currently are not 250.
Volt Europe is a federalist and “pan-European” party that emerged internationally as a movement in March 2017, in reaction to Brexit, initiated by a collective of students in the USA. Andrea Venzon is the founder of this movement, which is already a political party in several European countries, namely in Portugal, Germany, Bulgaria, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, United Kingdom or Sweden.
The movement, which emerged in Portugal on December 28, 2017 and was made official as a political party by the Constitutional Court in June 2020, has a MEP in the European Parliament, Damian Boeselager, elected by Volt Germany on the trips in May 2019.
The President of the Republic convenes the legislatives anticipated for January 30, 2022 following the “lead” of next year’s State Budget, in parliament, on October 27th.
The Budget had only the favorable vote of the PS and the votes against by the benches of the PCP, BE and PEV, in addition to the deputies from the right, PSD, CDS, Iniciativa Liberal and Chega. The PAN and the two non-attached deputies abstained.
The loss of parliamentary support in the 2022 State Budget was one of the reasons invoked by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to justify the dissolution of parliament and the anticipation of previous ones.
The Constitution determines that the anticipated legislatives must take place within 60 days after the dissolution of the parliament – which can only be enacted, therefore, from December 1st.