"We were used to being alone on the right. Doctor Paulo Portas used to say "on the right of CDS, the wall". As much as it pains us, the wall has fallen. We surely have some responsibility for this, we cannot just blame others. But what matters now is not to know whose responsibility it was, but to know that it happened", he considered.

This position was defended by the former president of CDS-PP, between 1992 and 1998, who was accompanied to the stage by president Nuno Melo and made a long speech of about 40 minutes at the 31st Congress of CDS-PP, which is taking place today and tomorrow, in Viseu.

In this speech, which was one of the most applauded of the day, Manuel Monteiro outlined differences with other parties on the right, such as Chega or IL.

Monteiro warned that "the true right does not accept the existence of inorganic movements in the police", nor does it agree with "people who threaten to go on strike against the law", even while defending the security forces.

"The true right is not a certain right that has as much of the right as I have of the left", he said ironically.

Monteiro said he understands the disillusioned and those who "vote negatively" but warned that CDS-PP "does not accept the stigmatisation of people".

If there are "people who receive undue subsidies", this attribution should be fought, regardless of its origin.

Monteiro considered that CDS-PP "must be the party of order and the common good for the future", since "without order there is no freedom, without order there is no security and without security and freedom there is no democracy".

In a message to the "friends of Iniciativa Liberal", Manuel Monteiro warned that the centrists "preserve the personal autonomy of each Portuguese but do not confuse extreme individualism with the good of the community" and reject the privatisation "of everything and anything".

"We defend economic and market freedom but for us the individual is not just a consumer", he stressed.

Despite the emergence of several political forces to the right of CDS-PP, Manuel Monteiro showed himself convinced that "never like now has there been so much political space for the affirmation of a democratic conservative party in Portugal".

"I am not frightened by certain winds or people who are so courageous in defending values, but in the campaign, when they realised they wanted to please everyone, they put those flights in the drawer. They were against everything, abortion, euthanasia, gender ideology. In the electoral campaign, they kept quiet so as not to scare the game away", he pointed out.

The former centrist leader stated that CDS is not afraid of losing votes and guaranteed that the party will reconquer "one by one" those who believe in freedom and democracy "but left".

Read Also: AD only won because CDS "was there" and criticises "thought police" (Portuguese version)