Presidential candidate João Cotrim de Figueiredo defended this Sunday (19 October) the simplification and updating of the Constitution, unlike fellow candidate António Filipe, during a debate in Coimbra.
It is necessary to simplify the Portuguese Constitution, “one of the longest in the world”, and update the document, said João Cotrim de Figueiredo.
For the candidate, the Constitution, approved in 1976 and revised since then, “becomes arrogant”, in the sense that “it continues to have a clause, which all Constitutions have, called ‘The material limits of revision’”.
This clause prevents the modification of certain parts of the document, “even if there is a 100% majority of future deputies who want to change”.
Despite agreeing that some of these parts should be impossible to modify, as they are “characterizing and basic elements of the system” in which one chose to live, there are 14 points included, thus composing “the longest material limits clause for constitutional review in the entire world”.
João Cotrim de Figueiredo, supported by the Liberal Initiative (IL), was speaking at the presidential debate organized by the National Council of Law Students, within the scope of the National Meeting of Law Students (ENED), which took place in Coimbra.
Asked by the moderator of the debate about the possibility of an alliance between the PSD, Chega and IL in the Assembly to form two thirds of the constitutional review, Cotrim said he would never be scared “by majorities that result from the democratic vote”.
“Regardless of this majority that is now arithmetically possible in this legislature, and including a party of which I was once president [a IL]and it could be any other majority, if it was the people who chose to give two thirds of the seats in the Assembly to that majority, whoever does not respect that is not respecting the democratic game”these.
In turn, António Filipe, also present on the occasion, argued that “the Constitution does not need to be revised, but rather effectively complied with”.
“When people look at what is in the Constitution and the public policies we have, we see that there is a large ‘deficit’ in the fulfillment of fundamental rights”, he highlighted.
And one President of the Republic “has to be an active voice in demanding compliance” with the Constitution, stressed the candidate supported by the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
In his opinion, “it is important to make people aware of the Constitution, so that there is no need to go to [o curso de] Right to have an idea about the functioning of sovereign bodies”.
The debate did not include the participation of presidential candidates such as Henrique Gouveia e Melo, Luís Marques Mendes, António José Seguro, André Ventura or Catarina Martins.
The presidential elections are scheduled for January 18, 2026.
The post Cotrim Proposes Constitutional Update, António Filipe Disagrees appeared first on Veritas News.
