The parliamentary leader and general secretary of the PSD, Hugo Soares, said this Saturday (18), during a conference on democracy, in the city of Praia, Cape Verde, that whoever left the party for Chega “never had space due to lack of quality”.
“Look at how many leaders of populist parties were born, having had space in traditional parties and then see who the cadres are who transfer from traditional parties to populist parties: they are always people who did not have space, due to lack of quality, in traditional parties. It’s never any other way.”he said.
Hugo Soares was one of the guest speakers at the international conference “Democracy in Africa” promoted by the Movement for Democracy (MpD, power) and answered questions about the dangers and origins of populism.
“I don’t know a PSD leader or activist who left for Chega and I wanted him to return. They were always people who never had space due to lack of quality, lack of capacity, often due to lack of character, because, pay attention, we in our parties also have less good ones”, since “the parties represent society” and “there is everything”, he added, without ever naming André Ventura, the president of Chega who was once a PSD member.
At the same time, there is a “trend in politics” that, according to Hugo Soares, could lead “to final disaster”.
“Every time a populist movement arises, the tendency of politicians [que estão em funções] is: we have to be more transparent. If they ask us to know the color of the shirt, we immediately want to tell them the color of the socks”, illustrated.
“We think we have to go to ‘vettings’, that we have to increase scrutiny at all levels”, leading to other consequences, he said.
“We are destroying (…) a distance that is required between those who govern and those who are governed, without this meaning that there is sovereignty, without this meaning that there is distance or that there is a lack of scrutiny”, detailed the PSD parliamentary leader.
Hugo Soares exemplified the context with the discussion about politicians’ salaries, remembering that “those who want” to earn less “will never be satisfied”.
“When we lower a politician’s salary, they will think that we should lower it more. When we increase the scrutiny rules, they will want the rules to increase more. And whose responsibility is it? It’s only ours, because we think that’s how we fulfill our goals to combat populism”, but it is not, he said.
The fight, according to Hugo Soares, must be done with “the courage to say that [os políticos] they are underpaid and have the courage to legislate so that they are better paid. This is the only way we will attract the best.”
“Populism can only be fought in two ways: by governing well and always having the courage to continue on our path, regardless of what is said”, he concluded.
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