PSD deputy José Pedro Aguiar-Branco was elected president of the Assembly of the Republic today with 160 votes in favor, on the fourth attempt.
The rules of the Assembly of the Republic determine that the president of parliament is elected at the first plenary meeting of the legislature by an absolute majority of the votes of the deputies in office.
“The candidate José Pedro Aguiar-Branco is declared elected president of the Assembly of the Republic”, stated António Filipe, who presided over the first plenary session of the XVI legislature.
The results received a standing ovation from the PSD and CDS-PP, the majority of the PS bench, seated, and some IL deputies.
Before taking the stand to speak, the new president of parliament greeted parliamentary leaders and leaders from all benches.
In the same election, Chega deputy Rui Paulo Sousa ran, who obtained 50 votes, with 18 blank votes still being registered, in a vote in which 228 of the 230 deputies participated.
Aguiar-Branco was only elected on the fourth attempt after, at the end of the morning, PS and PSD have announced an agreement which provides that the Social Democrats will only preside over parliament in the first two legislative sessions, until September 2026, and the Socialists will nominate a candidate for the rest of the legislature.
The votes obtained by the former Minister of Defense, 160, are slightly higher than the sum of the PSD, PS and CDS-PP benches (158).
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