The parliament of Portugal has voted to approve President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s trip to watch their 2022 World Cup clash against Ghana.
This means the President will be in Qatar to watch the first game of their national team in the World Cup, after parliament authorized it by voting on Tuesday.
The parliament also voted to approve the trips of other leaders of the country to travel to Qatar to watch their subsequent group matches of the tournament.
The Speaker of Parliament will travel to watch the country’s second group game while the Prime Minister will also make the trip to watch their final group match.
According to the constitution of Portugal, the President of the Republic cannot leave the national territory without the consent of the Parliament of the Republic.
This prompted the ruling government to present the draft resolution to the Speaker of Parliament of the Republic who subsequently put to to members for voting over the trip.
This was overwhelmingly approved with votes in favour of the the travel to ensure that President Marcelo will watch his side take on the Black Stars in their opening Group H match.
The political parties PS, PSD and PCP voted to approve with their huge numbers while Chega abstained with Liberal Initiative, Left Bloc, PAN and Livre voting against but the leader got the numbers to secure his trip to Qatar.
In his travel request, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa requested parliamentary authorization to leave the country between November 23 and 25 to watch the first match of the national team in Qatar.
In the same letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that “the attendance of the highest figures of the State to watch the National Team games was agreed.”
“The presence of the Speaker of Parliament, Augusto Santos Silva, being foreseen in the second game (November 28) and the Prime Minister, António Costa, in the third (December 2).”
Ghana will play Portugal on Thursday in their Group H match and the President of Ghana is expected to attend the match.