The meeting of the party's highest body, which will take place at the Costa de Caparica Municipal Pavilion, in the district of Setúbal, officially starts on Friday night in an exclusively 'online' format for the vote on the congress's rules, with the political debate being reserved for Saturday and Sunday. After having achieved its best result ever in the last legislative elections, winning a parliamentary group for the first time - Rui Tavares, Isabel Mendes Lopes, Jorge Pinto and Paulo Muacho -- Livre's members and supporters meet to elect the new bodies for the 2024-2026 term and approve the electoral program for the European elections, scheduled for June 9th. The list for the European elections is closed and will be headed by the leader Francisco Paupério, after a process of open primaries marked by some controversy and internal disagreements. Paupério won the primaries with a significant number of single votes from non-party members, which led the Electoral Commission to raise doubts about a possible "distortion of results" in the first round and to propose that only members should vote in the second round -- something that ended up not happening. The improvement of the primaries will certainly be one of the themes that will mark the great meeting, being a concern expressed by the three candidate lists for the Contact Group (board), Livre's executive body. Concrete changes, however, will be reserved for a possible statutory congress. The Contact Group is composed of 15 members, elected according to the Hondt method, so it is certain that it will have members from various internal currents. List 'A' is headed by Livre's parliamentary leader, Isabel Mendes Lopes, followed by the deputy and founder Rui Tavares, the parliamentarian Jorge Pinto and also the leader Filipa Pinto, 'number two' in the European elections. In their global strategic motion, entitled "The party of the Future says Present - united for a Free country", the candidates for the board say they are "invested in the growth of the party, focused on improving internal cooperation and collaborative work and oriented towards making Livre's local implementation a reality". "Ten years after its foundation, the time has also come to organize a Statutory Congress to improve aspects of Livre's internal organization and functioning, making this reflection with all members and with an extended time frame", it reads. List 'B' is headed by the leader Natércia Lopes, who is part of the current board, like the members Rodrigo Brito and Patrícia Robalo, who in the last great elective meeting, two years ago, also presented a second candidate list for the Contact Group. In the motion entitled "Rooting Livre, Rescuing Hope", the candidates defend that the growth of the party "must be done in a sustained way", a commitment to "the defense of internal pluralism and democracy, dialogue, participation and inclusion" and "a strong commitment to local and grassroots politics", through new territorial nuclei. List 'C' is headed by João Manso and in second place is Irene Gomes, two members who in the last elective congress were part of the then list 'B' and this time decided to run with an autonomous candidacy. In the motion "Livretarian Current -- For a Livre that is increasingly Free", the candidates ask that the elected board gather the proposals from the various currents into a single strategic motion of commitment, giving voice to all members and supporters, and ask for a party structure that is "more participatory, more horizontal, more decentralized, more transparent". The concern with a sustained growth of Livre is manifested, recalling the example of PAN, which in 2019 elected four deputies and returned to the single parliamentary representation in 2022 with the spokesperson Inês Sousa Real. In this congress, the party's Assembly will also be elected, the highest body between congresses, composed of 50 members and the Council of Jurisdiction -- with list 'A' being headed by the deputy Paulo Muacho and 'B' by the member Rui Matias. According to data released by the party to Lusa, Livre currently has a total of 1,900 members nationwide.  Read Also: Madeira. Livre guarantees that it will not make a government proposal viable to the right (Portuguese version)