On the sidelines of a round table on cultural diversity in the European Union, Francisco Paupério was questioned about the absence of Rui Tavares, spokesman and the party's best-known face, who has not yet joined the top of the list in the campaign, after having participated in the opening event, which took place on Friday, before the official start.

"Rui Tavares is an inspiration for Livre. He is one of the main founders, he is one of the faces of Livre and we are very honoured to have him as a representative of Livre. He will appear in the campaign and will give this strength", stressed the candidate.

In the first time he spoke about the subject since the start of the campaign, on Monday, Francisco Paupério also said that the entire team knows that the party leader "is a very important asset and people recognise his great value" and insisted: "We are very happy to count on him in the campaign."

The "number one" of Livre for the European elections, who had already been third in the Porto constituency in the legislative elections of March, won the internal primaries on April 20, in a vote that generated controversy and internal discord.

During the process, the Electoral Commission decided to restrict the vote to members and supporters only (i.e. militants), considering that there were "strong indications of bias" by citizens who are not members of the party, a decision that was eventually reversed.

According to the Electoral Commission, the issue was the emergence of a candidate - Francisco Paupério, who came first in the first round - "with an excessive number of single votes", considering this number "excessive in comparison with other primaries and in comparison with the other candidates in this election".

Following this process, and after Rui Tavares also did not accompany Paupério to the Constitutional Court when he submitted the list of candidates for the European elections, the spokesman's absence from the campaign has intensified doubts about the support of the party's leadership.

Francisco Paupério guarantees that these doubts are not justified.

"After the primaries, when we approved the list, we united around this list and went into the campaign. What happened was normal and this campaign will be normal, in which everyone will be committed to giving Livre the representation it deserves in the European Parliament", he said.

On Saturday, the party is organising an event in Porto dedicated to feminism in which, in addition to Tavares and Paupério, Jorge Pinto, elected in the legislative elections by the Porto constituency, Filipa Pinto, "number two" in the European elections" and the co-president of the European Green Party Mélanie Vogel should also be present.

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