The former coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda Mariana Mortágua stated this Wednesday, October 17, that the gesture she directed with her fingers at the parliamentary leader of the CDS was misinterpreted, not being offensive, but, rather, linked to rock culture.
This justification by Mariana Mortágua, however, did not calm the mood at the opening of this Wednesday’s plenary session, and the president of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, was even forced to intervene twice: first, to cut off the floor to Chega deputy Rita Matias; then, to cut off the floor to the president of the CDS bench, Paulo Núncio.
On Tuesday, the president of the Assembly of the Republic decided to ask the Transparency Commission to open an investigation into “possible serious irregularities committed” by the outgoing deputy of the Bloco de Esquerda, Mariana Mortágua, for a gesture addressed to Paulo Núncio.
According to the CDS complaint, Mariana Mortágua made a “rude gesture” to Paulo Núncio, in plenary, “raising the right hand with a closed fist, with the exception of the index and little fingers”.
This Wednesday, at the opening of the plenary session, Paulo Núncio returned to the topic, complaining that Mariana Mortágua made a rude gesture to him. From a political point of view, however, Paulo Núncio’s objective was to emphasize that, in parliament, in the face of these cases, there must be the same treatment for the extreme right and the extreme left.
Mariana Mortágua then asked for the floor to respond to the CDS parliamentary leader and, above all, to try to justify the meaning of the gesture she had made to him last week.
“I understand that, taking into account the cultural and symbolic background of deputy Paulo Núncio, who is an aficionado [de touradas] – I am not – and carries out activities in this area, your interpretation may have been wrong. I’ve been in this house for 12 years, I’ve never disrespected anyone, and I certainly wouldn’t start by doing so to Mr Paulo Núncio”he declared.
The Left Bloc deputy later regretted that the gesture she had addressed to the CDS parliamentary leader had “generated some confusion in interpretation”, because it was a finger gesture “which is a rock cultural symbol” – and not a symbol of horns, as in bullfighting.
“Other interpretation that Mr Paulo Núncio may have had, that was not my intention at all”he added.
Despite these words from Mariana Mortágua, Chega’s bench, through Rita Matias, reacted fieryly to complain about “duality of criteria in parliament and in Portuguese politics”, claiming that, if the gesture with the fingers were made by a deputy from their party, “it would be the opening of a news program”.
The president of the Assembly of the Republic warned her that she was not making any inquiries at the parliament table. At Rita Matias’ insistence, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco was forced to cut her off.
On the part of the PSD, the parliamentary leader, Hugo Soares, tried to calm the situation. He pointed out that school students were attending the plenary session and that Mariana Mortágua “had already apologized for the misinterpretation of her gesture”.
But Paulo Núncio wanted to return to the charge, accusing the former Bloco coordinator of “giving off music”. However, the president of the Assembly of the Republic cut him off. And José Pedro Aguiar-Branco even challenged the parliamentary leader of the CDS to appeal to the plenary the decision he had taken to cut him off, which did not happen.
Before this incident, right after the first time that Paulo Núncio asked to speak, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco had already highlighted that, following an order signed by him on Tuesday, he had sent the CDS complaint against the former coordinator of the Bloco de Esquerda to the Transparency Commission, with a view to establishing the facts.
In this sense, with an investigation underway, the President of the Assembly of the Republic claimed that he would not comment on the specific case.
He spoke, however, about the principles that should govern democratic debate in the Assembly of the Republic, reconciling freedom of expression, civility and respect for other deputies.
“When a deputy’s way of expressing himself or gesturing does not bring honor to parliament, or does not respect another deputy, it is up to me to make a correction, a warning. And also, when the situation is like this, to send it to the Transparency Commission, at the request of a parliamentary group”, he stressed.