Former MPs Helena Roseta and António Mota Prego justified their decision to leave the parliamentary galleries today, 2nd April, at a session commemorating 50 years of the Portuguese Constitution, saying they felt insulted by the speech of André Ventura, accusing the leader of Chega of a lack of civility.
Several former constituent deputies attending the solemn session commemorating the Constitution’s 50th anniversary walked out during the populist right-wing party leader’s address, after Ventura claimed that citizens in the 1970s had been “murdered by terrorist groups sponsored” by “many of those constituent deputies”.
After apologising for a “lack of courtesy” towards the Assembly of the Republic, Ventura asked “what future generations will say” when they learn that “a parliament granted amnesty to a left-wing terrorist group responsible for the deaths of babies, human beings and couples at the hands of the far left”.
Following these remarks, several invited constituents rose in protest and left the chamber.
When Ventura concluded his speech, the former deputies returned to the galleries, prompting protests from Chega MPs, who were reprimanded by the Speaker of Parliament and urged to restrain gestures that “do not dignify this parliament”.
José Pedro Aguiar-Branco reminded members that the constituent deputies were present “at the invitation of the Assembly of the Republic”.
Their return was met with a standing ovation from most parliamentary benches, with the exception of Chega and the CDS-PP.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the session, Helena Roseta said that “the issue is not the speeches, the issue is the way deputies behave”, arguing that the Chega parliamentary group had sought to “provoke turmoil”.
The retired MP accused André Ventura of insulting the former constituents invited to attend the solemn session marking the 50th anniversary of the Constitution, which prompted her decision to leave the chamber.
“Instantly, a remark came out, a popular verse: they do not know how to behave, they only create confusion, we cannot tolerate such bad manners. My reading of this goes beyond politics; this is simply not how deputies should conduct themselves,” she said.
Helena Roseta, elected to the Assembly by the then PPD, recalled that there were several moments of “great tension” during the drafting of the Constitution, and that proceedings were suspended whenever such situations arose, a solution she believes could also apply in cases like today’s.
“Deputies must know how to behave, that is the minimum expected. They are elected to carry out legislative work and to represent citizens, and I am absolutely certain that citizens do not behave like this, unless they belong to a violent football supporters’ group or are somewhat intoxicated in a tavern,” she criticised.
The first to protest during André Ventura’s speech was António Mota Prego, elected to the Assembly by the Socialist Party, who stood up to “defend the honour of the constituent deputies” and accuse the Chega leader of being “insulting”.
Also speaking to journalists, he described Ventura’s conduct as demonstrating “a lack of consideration, a lack of respect, even an undemocratic attitude and, above all, a complete lack of manners”.
“As constituents, and now honorary deputies, I felt I had the right to make an intervention that, in some way, challenged what André Ventura was saying,” António Mota Prego explained.
He was among the former constituent deputies who left the public galleries while Ventura was speaking.
“I left the galleries because I saw my colleagues doing so and felt I should follow. But simply leaving seemed like avoiding the confrontation. I felt I could not do that without first taking some form of stand against the offence being directed at us,” he said.
Source: LUSA
