Speaking to Lusa, CNE spokesperson André Wemans stated that dozens of complaints had been received against André Ventura’s posters, denouncing xenophobic political messages and calls for racism.
“Our obligation, as these are public crimes, and once the complaint has been filed, is to always forward these complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” he said.
In the deliberation, approved on Tuesday and consulted today by Lusa, the CNE argues that, since the presidential elections have not yet been officially scheduled, “it does not have the competence to intervene in this matter outside the electoral period”, therefore deciding to send the complaints to the MP so that it can “investigate the commission of any criminal offence”.
“This is not Bangladesh” and “Gypsies must obey the law” are the phrases on André Ventura’s two posters.
The CNE emphasizes that, although “the right not to be prevented from carrying out propaganda actions” is “a corollary of freedom of expression”, the content of propaganda is “naturally subject to certain limits” provided for in the Penal Code.
Regarding the two posters in question, the CNE states that they “make express and concrete reference to a group of people based on their origin and another group based on their ethnicity”.
The commission considers that there are “situations in which the concrete content” of texts or images of propaganda materials may be analyzed in cases such as defamation, offense to democratic institutions, call for disorder or incitement to hatred.
“Thus, the broad domain of protection of freedom of expression will have its limits when it may call into question the essential content of another right or intolerably affect social morality or the fundamental values and principles of the constitutional order”, considers the CNE in its deliberation.
Eight gypsy associations announced that they will file a complaint with the Public Ministry and are considering taking precautionary measures to have them removed.
The PS also appealed to the leader for intervention by the Public Ministry to apply possible sanctions because of the posters.
The candidate for President of the Republic and leader of Chega, André Ventura, today refused to remove the posters with references to the gypsy community and Bangladesh, arguing that his freedom of expression is at stake.
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