Free complains to CNE and ERC against televisions and PSD

Livre filed a complaint to the National Elections Commission (CNE) and the regulatory entity for the media (ERC) against the PSD, RTP, SIC and TVI about the model of television debates. The party considers it is at disadvantage.

« There is no only left to present this complaint, requesting the intervention of the regulatory entity for the media, through the National Commission of Elections, in order to replace the legality and respect for the principles of equality and equitable treatment of the various candidacies, » reads in the complaint.

In the text, signed by Rui Tavares, the party considers that it was placed in a “disadvantage situation” compared to the remaining candidates, after the PSD/CDS-PP coalition indicated Nuno Melo and not Luís Montenegro to discuss with free, BE and Pan in the television debates.

This model “violates the principle of equal opportunities of the various applications in the context of debates by treating differently,” he says, quoted by the agency Lusa.

Free asks CNE and ERC to intervene « in order to ensure equality and equity in the treatment of various candidacies under television debates for the 2025 legislative elections. »

The party also regrets that there was no « availability, neither the media, nor of the other candidacies, to reach a model of debate that was fair and equitable to all candidacies. »

Although the CDS-PP has parliamentary representation (something that has not occurred in the last legislative elections), the free one hampered from this model of debates since PSD president Luís Montenegro is the current prime minister who presents himself to “try to revalidate his mandate”, also leader of the largest coalition party, argues the free.

The party claims not to understand that criteria were used to determine this model, arguing that it has the same number of deputies in Parliament as the PCP, and criticizing the PSD president for “being his own to choose which parties are available to discuss or not”.

In the text, free defends two alternative solutions: allowing the inclusion of CDs in the debates “by their own, thus respecting their“ political and social representativeness ””, or “gauge the representativeness of CDS within the coalition, transposing this representativeness to the number of debates to be performed” and then “draw, among all competing parties, which or what debates the CDs” would participate in.