The grand meeting, which will take place until Sunday in the Costa de Caparica municipal pavilion, in Almada, in the district of Setúbal, began with about forty minutes of delay and the first speech was given by the president of the outgoing Assembly, the highest body between parties.

Patrícia Gonçalves addressed one of the hot topics of this grand meeting, the primary process, after the election of the head of the list for the European elections, Francisco Paupério, generated controversy and some internal discord.

"The primary regulations, which have been much talked about, have to be reviewed," admitted Patrícia Gonçalves.

However, the leader stressed that the Livre "chose to do politics differently", being the only party in the country that uses this method to choose candidates for elections, and argued that it is "necessary to have humility" to recognize mistakes and "move forward with our heads held high".

"There is no party in Portugal with more democratic processes than the Livre. (...) Remember the others who do not have the courage to open up as we do, do not want to do it and will not do it," she said.

The leader appealed for internal unity, stressing that the Livre "will always be as strong as its bodies are strong".

"Let's help the party grow and consolidate. Let's work with each other and not against each other. Let's be very careful about the way we treat each other. Let's disagree frankly and in good faith," she appealed.

Immediately afterwards, the leader Ricardo Sá Fernandes, from the outgoing Jurisdictional Council, reported that in the last two years 10 disciplinary actions were registered, none of which resulted in a sanction.

"Most of them for abuse of language that could compromise the principle of urbanity," he warned.

The stage of the 14th grand meeting is illuminated with the colors of the Livre, green, red, purple and yellow, along with the classic poppies, and some party flags are scattered around the room, in a space significantly larger compared to other grand meetings.

Next to the pulpit is a phrase from one of Ruy Belo's poems: "The month of May arrived, everything was in bloom, and everything was possible, it was just a matter of wanting to".

On the first day of the grand meeting, which ended in the early hours of Friday in an exclusively 'online' format, the congressmen diverged on the number of people each member can vote for to join the Assembly, the highest body between congresses.

This body has uninominal candidacies and is composed of 50 members. According to the approved regulations -- and which did not change after four hours -- each congressman can vote for 36 names, with the 25 most voted men and 25 most voted women being elected.

There were members, among them the deputy Jorge Pinto and the party's chief of staff in the Assembly of the Republic, Tomás Cardoso Pereira, who defended that each congressman should be able to vote for more names, increasing to 50, arguing that this would give each voter the chance to choose new people in addition to those they already know, since the party has grown and has more members.

On the other hand, other congressmen countered that this number should decrease, arguing that this would allow for the presence of various party currents in this body, alleging that an attempt was underway to condition internal plurality.

"Do not transform the Livre into a monolithic party," appealed the leader Inês Cisneiros.

Read Also: European and primary elections at the start of the 14th grand meeting of the Livre (Portuguese version)