Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs This article was originally published in Portuguese
All the opposition parties, with the exception of the Liberal Initiative, voted against the motion of confidence in the government. PM Montenegro even offered to suspend the session if the socialists presented specific questions, but PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos didn’t back down.
The motion of confidence in the government was rejected by Parliament on Tuesday evening, a year and a day after the 2024 legislative elections. PS, Chega, Bloco de Esquerda (BE), PCP, Livre and PAN voted against, bringing down the government. The Liberal Initiative (IL) was the only opposition party to vote in favour, alongside the PSD and CDS-PP parliamentary benches that support the Portuguese executive.During the debate, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro made several appeals to the Socialist benches to find a solution that wouldn’t throw the country into elections, but the PS didn’t back down, insisting that the government should withdraw the motion of confidence and leave the clarifications to the parliamentary commission of enquiry (CPI).The centre-right Social Democrats also submitted a request to suspend the debate so that the Prime Minister could talk privately with the leader of the opposition, but to no avail.Offer of 15 day inquiry didn’t flyFinally, the government tried to wing it, with the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presenting a proposal, particularly aimed at the PS, to go ahead with the commission of enquiry, but in a different format. In the next few days, the government would present the necessary documentation and clarifications, with a commitment to present results and conclusions within 15 days.”It’s a constructive proposal and prevents the country from being muddied,” argued Pedro Duarte.The PS leader’s response was the opposite, with Pedro Nuno Santos accusing the PSD bench of having initially asked for “a private commission of enquiry” – a reference to the request to suspend the debate so that the Prime Minister and PS could talk. The PS “does not accept negotiations with the government”, he emphasised, reaffirming his desire for a parliamentary enquiry in this legislature.The Socialist parliamentary leader also considered that “a 15-day commission of enquiry is not a commission of enquiry” and defended the 90 days proposed by the PS as a minimum.”If you want to be transparent and show clarification, withdraw the motion of confidence,” Alexandra Leitão challenged.After a one-hour interruption requested by the CDS-PP, the motion was finally voted on after almost five hours of debate, dictating the fall of the government.Government and PS at loggerheadsAt the start of the debate, regarding his behaviour, the Prime Minister said he had provided “clarifications” and had been subjected to two motions of censure. “My professional activity has had no political influence whatsoever, and my political activity has no business influence whatsoever,” he said.The chief executive also said that he was available for “additional clarifications”, either in the parliamentary commission of enquiry, or with the Attorney General’s Office or the Transparency Authority. “My conscience is absolutely clear.”The Prime Minister began by issuing a challenge to the Socialist leader, expressing his willingness to suspend the debate if Pedro Nuno Santos said what information he wanted to know, in what form and within what timeframe.The Socialist secretary-general returned Montenegro’s challenge: “Withdraw the motion of confidence and accept the parliamentary committee of enquiry.””This crisis is the sole responsibility of the Prime Minister,” Pedro Nuno Santos accused, recalling the various times the PS has held the government together and emphasising that a year ago he had already guaranteed that he would never make motions of confidence viable.’Clarifications must be made in public’In a second attempt to avoid a political crisis, the PSD also asked for the session to be suspended for half an hour so that the Prime Minister could meet behind closed doors with the PS secretary-general, so that the two could talk and find a solution.PS leader Pedro Nuno Santos rejected the meeting with Luís Montenegro, pointing out that clarifications “have to be in public”.”Clarifications if asked for are not from the PS, clarifications have to be in public and that’s why it has to be through the parliamentary committee of enquiry,” he said.The PS’s parliamentary leader, Alexandra Leitão, also argued that “countless questions” had been put to the prime minister in “all sorts of ways”. “The prime minister didn’t want to or couldn’t answer,” she said, saying that what we’ve seen is “proof that the government and the prime minister are desperate,” referring to the requested suspension.”If you want to provide clarification, do it publicly, in accordance with the public, legal and regulatory procedures. Submit to the CPI and withdraw the motion of confidence,” said Alexandra Leitão.The request for parliamentary work to be interrupted was rejected with PS, Chega, BE and PCP voting against, PSD, CDS-PP and IL voting in favour and PAN and Livre abstaining.IL was the only opposition party to vote in favour of the motion of confidence”The IL is the party that would benefit most from elections, but we didn’t decide according to party interests, we decided according to the interests of the country,” said Rui Rocha, accusing both the government and the rest of the opposition of irresponsibility for causing “a huge political crisis”.”IL’s decision is to be on the side of the Portuguese,” said the leader of the Liberals, pointing out that according to the most recent polls, voters don’t want to go to elections again.”There’s no doubt in my mind that the Portuguese don’t want to have early elections,” recognised the Prime Minister, pointing out once again that it would have been enough for the PS to abstain to avoid this crisis.
