At a press conference, Senator Guido Manini Ríos said that “perhaps the time has come” to leave the coalition. On Monday the Political Table meets to define continuity or not.
The leader of Open Town Hall (CA), Guido Manini Rios, insisted that there was no fault in the delivery of the house by the Minister of Housing and Territorial Planning (MVOT), Irene Moreira; and that the request for resignation by the president Luis Lacalle Pou it is an attack on the party, demanding that it reconsider the decision. “Maybe the time has come,” he replied when asked if a coalition break was being considered.
Manini Ríos began his statement at the press conference he attended scope.com without accepting questions from those present, and immediately aimed to defend the head of the MTOV: “The person who was awarded housing has acute vulnerability problems that had requirements to access housing,” he maintained, and insisted that he acted in accordance with the regulations of the ministry, by which “dozens of houses have been granted”. “The problem is that this is Cabildo Abierto,” she said.
“There was nothing to hide, the undersecretary knew,” said the party leader, and again clarified that “for Cabildo Abierto, the ministry acted according to normal procedures.” “They did not even give the minister the opportunity to clarify,” he said, although Moreira explained the situation in front of the president himself and the secretary of the Chair, Alvaro Delgado, on Wednesday.
“We do not understand the explosion that took place yesterday or the accusations. We are not surprised by the opposition but we are surprised by the coalition,” he said. “There are partners who want to break the coalition”, he accused, realizing that the new crisis within the government was caused by other sectors, but not by CA. “The president’s decision is not based on a specific fact. What bothers are the attitudes and proposals of the Cabildo Abierto,” continued Manini Ríos, along the same lines: “There was not even a mistake, there are other things that they want to charge” to the match.
“The request for resignation is a mistake. Let’s hope the president analyzes it”he concluded, making it clear that, for the moment, the decision —and the responsibility— will rest with Lacalle Pou.
The feeling of the party
Before the conference, the caucuses of CA met to determine the party’s future actions as a member of the Multicolored Coalition, after the president requested the resignation of Moreira for delivering directly and without lottery —in conduct that from the National Party they understand as “discretionary” and from the opposition they qualify as “clientelism”—a house for a lobbyist militant.
The possibility that the sector led by Guido Manini Rios break the government coalition is latent, although they did not make direct reference to it in statements to the press, accusing their partners to a greater extent. “This is an attack on Cabildo Abierto”considered the senator and president of the party, Guillermo Domenech, speaking to Radio Carve. For the legislator, there are regulations that enable the direct award of a home to a person in a situation of vulnerability, so Moreira would not have breached any procedure, as she, the MVOT and the party insist.
Domenech’s position regarding the new scandal is decisive: for CA to leave the coalition. “Surely I am not going to raise it by myself,” he said when asked by the journalists, and affirmed that Among the lobbyists there is the spirit to make a decision of this type. “Because this is a direct attack on CA, what bothers us here is that we have not been at the service of interests that do not seem to us to be the interests of the people,” she assured.
For his part, Manini Ríos advanced with an utlimátum, leaving the ball in the president’s court once again, but expressing much of the discomfort in his party.
Source: Ambito
