ALDE Party Congress Portugal 2024

The 2024 ALDE Party Congress takes place on 04-06 October in Estoril, Portugal.

Click on the menu on the left to find out more and to register for the Congress.

Elections and Voting

Bureau elections 

At the upcoming Congress, the following positions are up for election: 

• 1 President 
• 6 Vice Presidents 

As per the deadline of Friday 13 September, the ALDE Party Secretariat received the following nominations:

Presidency candidates

• Svenja Hahn (FDP, Germany)

Vice-Presidency candidates

• Yoko Alender (Reformierakond, Estonia) 
• Bernardo Blanco (Iniciativa Liberal, Portugal) 
• Sal Brinton (LibDems, UK) 
• Lucrezia Conti (Liberali Democratici Europei, Italy) 
• Rik Daems (Open VLD, Belgium)
• Joar Forssell (Liberalerna, Sweden) 
• Yevheniia Kravchuk (Servant of the People, Ukraine) 
• Jouni Ovaska (Keskusta, Finland)
• Lucia Plaváková (Progressive Slovakia, Slovakia) 
• Kira Rudik (Golos, Ukraine) 
• Monika Zajkova (Liberalno-demokratska partija, North Macedonia)

Click here to see the candidate profiles.

The Secretariat will organise one online session to meet the Bureau Candidates on Tuesday 24 September from 16:00 to 17:30 CEST. 

Delegates will be able to cast your ballot for the Bureau elections during the windows advertised on the programme. If you have a proxy vote, you will receive two voting codes to cast your ballots in the elections. Once you have submitted your vote, you will not be able to change it. 

As stipulated in the ALDE Party Statutes, candidates for Bureau “must be a member of, and be nominated by, their full member party of the Association that has paid its annual membership fee. The candidate’s Party leader, Secretary General or President, must send a signed letter of nomination addressed to the Secretary General.” 

“The Bureau shall consist of 11 members, elected by the Congress, amongst whom a President, nine Vice Presidents and a Treasurer. Members of the Bureau cannot serve more than three consecutive mandates of two years each in the same position and no more than eight years in total. No more than 1/3 of the total number of Bureau members can be non-EU. Member parties shall be mindful of the aim for a gender balanced Bureau. The President and the Treasurer shall come from an EU Member State”.

Resolutions and Urgency Resolutions  

Please note that in accordance with ALDE Party statutes the deadline to submit draft resolutions to the ALDE Party Congress is two months prior to the Congress. 

Resolutions must be submitted via the online platform (debate.aldeparty.eu) by 23:59 CET on Friday 16 August. 

The platform will be activated shortly and International Officers will be given administrative rights to upload draft resolutions upon registration on this platform or can use their access codes from previous years. If you have not received or cannot find your debate platform login details, contact Daniela on the details below. 

Member parties will receive a consolidated dossier of all draft resolutions submitted at the latest by Friday 23 August. 

Amendments to draft resolutions must then be submitted by Friday 6 September, also via the online platform at  debate.aldeparty.eu. 

Member parties will then receive a consolidated dossier of all amendments submitted to the draft resolutions by Friday 13 September. 

Urgency Resolutions 
 
Draft urgency resolutions can be submitted via the online platform debate.aldeparty.eu until Thursday 3 October at 12:00 CET. They must not exceed 300 words and must deal with issues or developments that occurred since the deadline for regular resolutions (16 August). 

If you have any questions and queries regarding the resolution and amendment submission process, please contact Daniela Morales Garcia, ALDE Party Senior Policy Adviser, on [email protected] 

Delegations 

Delegation lists will close at 12:00 CET on Friday 27 September. 

After this point, changes can only be made in the statutory exceptional cases of flight cancellation, sickness, or unforeseen political developments. In such cases, please contact the ALDE Party Secretariat immediately [email protected] 

Failure of the International Officer to assign all voting rights by this deadline will result in that delegation being unable to exercise unallocated votes. 

To review the number of votes each delegation is entitled to, please download the delegation list here. 

Voting 

The voting platform is accessible through this link 

More information will be provided during the event, and a test will be performed before starting the session.

What if I hold a proxy vote? 

If you have been allocated a vote and a proxy voting right by your member party, after logging in with your personal credentials, your vote will count twice. 

Voting rights were programmed into the system following the deadline on 27 September to submit voting lists. 

Non-EU members may not together vote in any body or committee of the Association for a number of votes exceeding one third of the number of votes cast in each ballot. When applicable, non-EU member votes shall be subject to proportional reduction in the calculation of the results of the relevant ballot.

 
 
Procedures for the election of the President and Vice Presidents 

- Election of the President: 

As stipulated in the ALDE Party Statutes, adopted by the ALDE Party Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, on 28 May 2023 (art. 27): 

“The President and the Treasurer are elected separately, by a majority of more than 50% of the votes cast. If there are more than two candidates, and no one obtains more than 50% of the votes cast, a second round takes place between the two candidates who obtained the most votes.” 

 
- Election of the Vice Presidents:  

As stipulated in the ALDE Party Statutes, adopted by the ALDE Party Congress in Stockholm, Sweden, on 28 May 2023 (art. 27): 

“The Vice Presidents are elected on a single ballot paper. Delegates can choose as many candidates as they wish to up to the maximum number of vacancies to be filled.  

“The candidates with the most votes are elected in the order of the amount of votes. Only candidates reaching the quorum defined as follows are elected: 1/the positions available, i.e. that for 2 positions the quorum will 1/2 = 50% of the ballots cast (and not of total votes), for 3 positions 1/3=33,33% of the ballots cast, for 4 positions 1/4 =25% of the ballots cast, etc.” 

“In case of only one vacant position for a round of election, the principle of simple majority shall be used, as is the case with the position of President and Treasurer.” 

“Candidates failing to obtain the quorum in the first round can run in the second round where there will be no quorum. Those obtaining the highest number of votes are elected until all vacant mandates are filled.” 

“If two or more candidates obtain the same number of votes for the last vacant mandate, an extra round will be arranged between those candidates to determine who will fill the mandate.” 

“In the event that a sitting Vice President or Treasurer runs for the position of President, an additional mandate would become vacant should that person be elected President.” 

In case one or several candidates miss the quorum, a second round of election will be held. 
 
The returning officers will ensure anonymity of the votes by supervising the process and ensuring that the data is not retained following the vote. 

 
Timetable and Congress Deadlines 

Please find a full overview of Congress deadlines available to download here.

Programme

Registration

Registration page

Please click here to access our registration page for the Congress 2024.

Congress Registration Fee

All attendees who are not included in the following groups below, will be required to pay a registration fee:

• Appointed voting delegates of full member parties and one non-voting Council delegate per affiliate member party
• Elected Politicians and invited guests to the ALDE Party congress.
• Registered members of the press.

The registration fee will be requested to representatives from member party organisations who are not voting / associate delegates, political staffers, and any other guest who are not listed above.

Early Bird Ticket: 80.00€ (valid until 30 September 2024).

On-site Ticket: 100.00€

To access the Official Dinner Reception, all attendees MUST wear their Congress badges and lanyards as access to the venue will be strictly controlled.

Please note there will be a 15 EUR charge for every re-printed badge onsite and so attendees must be sure to keep their access badge with them.

For any queries related to registration, please contact the events team at [email protected] or +32 2 551 01 69

Practical Information

Congress venue

The ALDE Party Congress will take place in Estoril, at the Estoril Congress Center. 

The town of Estoril is conveniently accessible from Lisbon Airport by taxi or Uber, costing around 25 euros. Taking the train from Lisbon's city centre to Estoril is also a convenient option. You can explore the best routes and schedules here.

Accommodation

October is a very high season in Portugal, and there are few and limited availabilities of hotels with preferred rates. Please book your stay as soon as possible before the end of the summer. Also please note that transport from and to Lisbon is cheap so reservation in the city is an option.

Hotel: Cascais Miragem

This rate is available:

• For stays from October 4, 2024 to October 6, 2024;
• For Standard, Superior, Deluxe, Premium, Junior Suite, Suite and Suite Deluxe room categories;
• Subject to hotel availability.
• Link to book here
• Promocode ALDE24 for a 10% discount on their Bed and Breakfast rate.
• Release date: 18 September

Hotel: Real Palácio

• Rates:
  • 185€, single room.
  • 195€ for double/twin room.
  • Both rates breakfast included.
• Release date: 4th September
• Booking calling at: +351 21 319 9500 mentioning ALDE Congress group or using this link

Hotel: Ibis Styles Lisboa Centro Liberdade

• Rate: 160€, breakfast included. Price cannot be guaranteed anymore, due to the high demand on the dates. 
• Booking via website: ibis Styles Lisboa Centro Liberdade NE - ALL (accor.com)

Other suggestions:

Please note that the following rates are approximate, based on their booking website beginning of August. The hotels below are suggestions we offer to our Delegates, but we do not have a number of rooms blocked for the ALDE Party group.

Hotel: Hotel Inglaterra Estoril 

• Rate: 198€ approximately, single room. Price cannot be guaranteed due to the high demand on the dates. 
• Booking calling at: +351 214 684 461 

Hotel: Vila Galé Estoril

• Rate: 179€ approximately, single room. Price cannot be guaranteed due to the high demand on the dates. 
• Booking via: [email protected] or calling at:  (+351) 212 460 65

Hotel: Somewhere Estoril Guest House

• Rate: 282,60€ Superior Double or Twin Room with Terrace. Non refundable. 
• Booking via website: Somewhere Estoril (somewhere-estoril.com)

Hotel: Alvorada

• Rates:
  • 95,80€ Double Standard Room - Non Refundable.
  • 111,10€ Bed and Breakfast Twin Standard - Non refundable
• Booking via website: Hotel Alvorada (direct-book.com)

Hotel: Rural Cottages

• Each cottage offers 2 bedrooms.
• For availabilities and prices please call at: +351 938 736 832​ or book via their website: Contact EN - Quinta (marnix.pt)

Travel Reimbursement

In accordance with ALDE Party statutes, partial travel costs will be reimbursed to ALDE Party Council delegates only. A link to the platform to submit your reimbursement request will be sent out to Council delegates after the event takes place. 

Contact

Further information will be uploaded soon. If you have any inquiry about any aspect of ALDE Party Congress 2024, you can contact us at [email protected] and [email protected] or + 32 2 551 0169.

For details on elections, voting and resolution deadlines, you can contact [email protected] and [email protected] 

For any question on the programme and organisation, logistics and practical information, you can contact [email protected] and [email protected]

For any inquiry on the exhibition, please reach out to [email protected].

For communication info please refer to [email protected].