“I don’t want to tickle the system, I want to change Portugal”
During the presentation of the global strategy motion that his list, the L, presents to the VII Convention of the IL, Rui Rocha defended that to end the bipartisanship installed in Portugal it is necessary to “be planned” and for that “it is not enough to be the third political force”, needing an expressive electoral result.
“I don’t want to tickle the system, I want to change Portugal. We are going to change Portugal”, he pledged.
The global strategy motion established a target of 15% in the next legislative elections, if these take place in 2026, as planned.
The candidate assured that the liberals will “come out united in this extraordinary way, whatever the result”.
On the electoral goals for “the political fights that are already at the door”, Rui Rocha referred that in relation to the regional offices of Madeira, if elected, he will put everything possible in this dispute because the objective is “to elect the first parliamentary group ” that autonomous region, i.e. more than one deputy.
In the European ones, the candidate wants to get the first Liberal MEP and, in the Azores regionals, he sets the goal of also getting a parliamentary group where he currently has deputy Nuno Barata.
Regarding this objective of “breaking bipartisanship in Portugal”, Rui Rocha argued that, in relation to the occupation of the State apparatus in Madeira, “the PSD does in Madeira the same as the PS does on the mainland”.
In order to change the country, in the candidate’s analysis, “a strong party” is needed and, despite praising the path taken by IL, he makes it clear that “obviously there are things to improve”, assuming that internal management has sometimes been sidelined that it was possible to place the focus on the country.
“We want to seriously decentralize the party,” he promised.
Rui Rocha made a commitment, if elected, to hold “periodic quarterly meetings” with the aim of having “a party with much closer proximity”.
From this moment on in his speech, the candidate outlined the differences between “the country of the PS” and “the country of the Liberal Initiative”, with criticism of the current situation in the country where, for example, “the youngest have to emigrate”, “there are two- or three-year health waiting lists” and generations fail to “lighten the burden of poverty”.
“They ask me how the next day will be: all together we are going to turn the country inside out, we are going to transform the country. All together for liberalism, so that liberalism reaches everyone”, he emphasized.