The plenary of TC judges agreed to grant the precautionary measure and, consequently, order the PRS to refrain from holding the announced V Ordinary Congress, “until the trial of the main action takes place”.
According to the ruling dated Wednesday and consulted by Lusa, in the measure, Sapalo António, removed from running for leadership of the PRS, “due to being suspended from the Political Council”, asked for the immediate impeachment of the congress “because there was a violation of the statutory standards in its preparation”.
Sapalo António, co-founding member of the PRS, was removed from running for president of the party on May 23, 2022 for having committed “harmful acts against the party and the president, therefore removed from the category of member of the Political Council”.
In this measure, the applicant states that the IV Congress of the PRS, currently presided over by deputy Benedito Daniel, held in May 2017, elected its management bodies, “whose mandate, after six years, ended on May 31, 2023” .
For the purposes of renewing the elective bodies, the party president called for the Fifth Ordinary Congress and appointed a commission made up of members of the national executive secretariat, which “constitutes a serious violation of the PRS statutes”.
Regarding the composition of the commission, the president “selected and integrated individuals he trusted with the purpose of deceiving public opinion”, leaving out members who make up the National Committee and the Political Council, he added.
Sapalo António alleges the existence of "serious irregularities, above all, in the way in which the acts leading to the holding of the V Ordinary Congress are being implemented”.
In addition to Sapalo António, the PRS youth leader, Gaspar Fernandes, was also removed from running for party leadership for allegedly not having 15 years of activism, which he contested, saying he would also appeal to the TC.
Benedito Daniel, current president of the renovators, is the only candidate and is running for his own succession, as decided by the organizing committee of the V Congress.
The Constitution recalls that the disciplinary sanction of suspension from the position of member of the Political Council applied to Sapalo António has already been in effect for one year and eight months, stating that the disciplinary measure, “not being the most serious, prescribes and cannot harm the applicant for run for party president.”
Therefore, a member of a party who wants to run for president of his party cannot be removed based on a suspension sanction without defining limits on its duration because it offends the principle of legality of sanctions, argues the TC.
The judges of that instance observe that the participation of a single candidate for the leadership of the PRS constitutes a violation of the party's statutes, which provide for a multiplicity of candidacies.
The Constitutional Court “cannot ignore that the removal of the applicant, if it takes place, will have the inevitable consequence of violating fundamental principles, freedoms and guarantees”, as well as the “aggravation of the intra-party conflict that has haunted this party for some time the PRS party”.
PRS contests decision, promising to respect suspension of congress
“The party will respect the decision of the Constitutional Court, we simply do not agree with this decision, because for the party the measure [of suspension] that was applied to the member [Sapalo António] falls within the party's statutory principles”, he said the general secretary of the PRS, Rui Malopa Miguel.
The position was expressed in a press conference, which addressed the position of the plenary of judges of the TC, which agreed to grant the precautionary measure, filed by Sapalo António (candidate removed from running for party leadership) and ordered the PRS to “abstain to hold the V Ordinary Congress", scheduled from the 2nd to the 4th of April.
Rui Malopa Miguel assured that his party will comply with what was established by the TC, noting, however, that the congress of renovators was not annulled, “as is being said on all sides”.
The party “must abstain and we accept this decision of the Constitutional Court, in these terms”, he stressed, highlighting that there are other aspects on which the party does not review the court’s decision, especially the “unconstitutionality” alluded to in the suspension of Sapalo António.
Malopa assured that all the bodies elected in the IV Congress of his party are in office, “including the president, on which occasion he presented documents that, as he highlighted, justify the suspension of Sapalo António, having questioned the Constitutional's stance.
He also guaranteed that the PRS, through its bodies, will defend the democratic principles present in its statutes and regulations and will continue to participate in the democratic life of the country, as it is a legally constituted instrument to contribute to the political, social and economic development of the country.
“And it will not allow its prestige and history to be tarnished by people or entities that openly want to destroy it”, concluded the general secretary of the PRS.
