In a statement, the Free Party announces that Francisco Paupério, who had already won the first round, came in first again in the second round of the primaries, in which six candidates ran, with 5,667 points, followed by the leader and the party's number two in Porto in the last legislative elections, Filipa Pinto, who won 3,777 points.

Francisco Paupério is 28 years old, was born in Leça da Palmeira, in Matosinhos, and is a researcher by profession. He has a degree in biology, with a specialization in bioinformatics, from the Faculties of Science of the Universities of Porto and Lisbon and is currently finishing his doctorate in Integrative Biology and Biomedicine at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science.

He was number three for the party in the Porto constituency in the March legislative elections.

In third place in the results of the second round was the leader Carlos Teixeira, who was also a candidate for Lisbon in the last legislative elections, the researcher Mafalda Dâmaso, followed by the chief of staff of the Free Party in the Assembly of the Republic and municipal deputy in Oeiras, Tomás Cardoso Pereira, and lastly, Inês Pires, who was the head of the list for Leiria in the last legislative elections.

On Tuesday, the Electoral Commission of the Free Party's primary process for the European elections decided to restrict the vote in the second round to members and supporters only (i.e. militants), considering that there were "strong indications of bias" in the process by citizens who are not members of the party and who registered to participate.

This decision was reversed on Thursday night by the Ethics and Arbitration Commission, which is part of the party's Jurisdiction Council, considering that "no specific conduct was found that would constitute a bias in the electoral process".

According to the Electoral Commission, the issue was the fact that a candidate had emerged - Francisco Paupério, who came first in the 1st round -- "with an excessive number of single votes (those that come from a voter who only ranks one candidate)", considering this number "excessive in comparison with other primaries and in comparison with the other candidates in this election".

According to the regulations of the Free Party's primaries, at the time of voting, the choice is made "by ranking the candidates, in order of preference from 1 to 6", although this is not mandatory.

The Free Party has two forms of militancy: members, who have the right to elect and be elected to internal positions, vote on strategic documents and pay dues; and supporters, who do not contribute financially but can run for office or be elected in the primaries.

Participation in the Free Party's primaries is open to any citizen, provided that they sign the party's charter of principles, respect the code of ethics and sign an "agreement of commitment", under penalty of having their political trust withdrawn.

All citizens who decide to vote in the Free Party's primaries must make a commitment of honour "to participate in good faith in the open primaries process and to ensure its integrity and credibility", to subscribe to the principles and political programme of the Free Party and to declare that they are not members of any other political party.

The European elections are scheduled for 09 June.

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