On 20 January, André Ventura's presidential campaign sent a note to the media announcing that the candidate would be present on 21 January at 6 pm "at a meeting with young people in the Almeida Santos Auditorium at the Assembly of the Republic, to hear their concerns." The meeting was "open to journalists."

Subsequently, in response to objections from the Assembly of the Republic's services, the Chega Parliamentary Group reformulated its request, with MP Rita Matias arguing that the event "is organised by her in conjunction with the young MPs Daniel Teixeira, Madalena Cordeiro, Rui Cardoso, and Ricardo Reis."

He argued that the event was "aimed at involving young people in democratic institutions" and stated that it was not organised by André Ventura, but that he "will be present at the invitation of the Chega party’s group of deputies, in his capacity as president of the party."

However, according to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, “notwithstanding the initial request to reserve the Almeida Santos auditorium being formulated as an institutional meeting between young deputies from the Chega Parliamentary Group and young party members, the subsequent public disclosure by presidential candidate André Ventura, expressly describing the event as a ‘meeting with young people’ within the context of his candidacy and announcing the event's openness to the media, decisively alters the legal nature of the initiative.”

“Indeed, from the moment the presidential candidate himself publicly assumes the initiative as integrated into the context of the electoral campaign, the alleged initial organisational intention or the subsequent attempt to reduce the event to a mere civic engagement action ceases to be relevant. What matters, in light of electoral law and established constitutional jurisprudence, is the objective capacity of the event to influence the electorate, as well as the use of public facilities and resources for that purpose,” the President of the Assembly of the Republic's order states.

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco then emphasises that “the principles of neutrality, impartiality, and equal opportunities among candidates,” enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, “bind all public entities, including the Assembly of the Republic and its bodies and services.”

“These principles translate into a duty of absolute equidistance regarding the different candidacies, especially during the electoral period. This duty is not limited to abstaining from express support, but also includes the prohibition of acts that, even indirectly or subtly, may favour a candidacy, particularly through the granting of institutional spaces of high political symbolism,” stresses the President of the Assembly of the Republic.

José Pedro Aguiar-Branco points out that “it is clear from constitutional jurisprudence” that “the merely informative or civic intention invoked by the promoters is irrelevant, as is the formal qualification attributed to the event.”

"What the law aims to eliminate is precisely the ambiguity in communication, which could be interpreted by citizens as political or electoral promotion," he argues.

In this sense, for José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, “holding an election campaign event on the premises of the Assembly of the Republic, using an institutional space and under the aegis of a Parliamentary Group, would objectively be likely to violate the principles of neutrality, impartiality and equal opportunities between candidates, constituting an improper use of public resources for partisan purposes.”

“Thus, since the event is objectively framed within the electoral context, due to the public dissemination carried out by the candidate himself and its inclusion in the communication space of the campaign, its holding on the premises of the Assembly of the Republic violates the duties of institutional neutrality and the prohibition of the use of public resources for electoral propaganda purposes,” the order emphasizes.

Consequently, adds the president of parliament, “maintaining the authorisation initially granted would prove legally unsustainable, the Assembly of the Republic would become, even involuntarily, an instrument for favouring a candidacy, in manifest violation of the Constitution and the applicable electoral law.”