The 31st Congress of the centrists will take place in the Pavilhão Cidade de Viseu, and the start of the work is scheduled for 10:00 am, with the speech of the president of the congress, José Manuel Rodrigues.

The work will continue with the presentation of the activity reports of the National Council of Jurisdiction, the General Secretariat and the National Political Commission.

Also in the morning, the presentation and voting of the proposal for a new Statement of Principles of CDS-PP is scheduled, prepared by a group led by António Lobo Xavier. The document is entitled "Free, democratic and social" and aims to update the original text from July 1974.

Among the novelties of the new Statement of Principles, presented in September, is the rejection of populism and the guarantee that the CDS respects "personal orientations".

The text, updated 50 years after the party's foundation, will be presented by the president of the congress, José Manuel Rodrigues, who is also the leader of CDS/Madeira and president of the regional parliament.

The current president of CDS-PP, Nuno Melo, who is running again for the leadership of the party, without opposition, should speak to the congress around 12:30 pm, to present his motion of global strategy.

Nuno Melo's motion for global strategy is entitled "Time to Grow". The Popular Youth, a structure that represents young centrists, also presented the motion "Ensuring the Future".

In the document, the centrist leader argues that proclaiming the party's demise was "a hasty assessment" and assumes he wants to launch "a realistic, but confident project of consolidation and growth".

The discussion of the motions, a document that aims to "establish the general orientation of the party", will take place until 9:30 pm, followed by the vote.

Nuno Melo, a former MEP and currently Minister of National Defense, has led CDS-PP since 2022 and is running for a new two-year term, until 2026.

According to an official source from the party, former presidents José Ribeiro e Castro and Manuel Monteiro will be present at the congress, but "there may still be more confirmations".

The program for the first day of the 31st great meeting also includes the presentation of the three sectoral strategy motions: "Agriculture and environment - a virtuous alliance for mitigating climate change"; "The right of sustainability"; "The need for urgent 'marketing'".

The work ends with the presentation, discussion and voting of the proposed amendments to the party's statutes.

According to a source from the congress organization, around 1,300 delegates will be present.

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