José Coelho / Lusa
The PSD candidate already does his tour of universities and prepares debates, but the party only formally supports him: in campaign spending is alone.
Luís Marques Mendes, the first presidential candidate to formalize the candidacy for the 2026 presidential elections, has already started with the initial phase of his campaign.
According to the newspaper, the travels he has made and the advisor he hired, Sofia Rodrigues (former advisor to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs), were paid with equity and individual NIF.
In 2026, the candidate says he is reimbursed, as with candidates who get more than 5% of the votes.
The advisor is the only one who receives a monthly salary: the other services, such as photographers or drivers, are paid on time. The order is to “register everything” to be as transparent as possible. Duarte Marques, campaign director, says that “more transparency has never hurt anyone.”
But for now, they also want to “reducing expenses as much as possible“: In recent weeks, the candidate has now made visits to universities and organized a kind of general states, which will feature debates under the theme” Causes of the Presidency “.
Luís Marques Mendes has the right to raise funds or be sponsored by donations, and a common way to pay the campaign is the support of a party. And the former company SIC even has it.
The PSD board has publicly announced the support of its former leader’s candidacy, but Luís Montenegro has known that the support will be just a statement of support, which It does not presuppose financial help.
In the former minister he delivered his militant card, and was among those present, a PS mayor.
Mendes Marks will request a loan To support the expenses, and should receive the state subsidy that returns money spent on campaign to candidates with more than 5% of the votes, but there has been in recent history who had been “barefoot”, as it poorly provided for its result.
This was the case of Maria de Belém Roseira, from the PS, who had 24% of the votes for 10 years, and a consequent subsidy of 790 thousand euros. It ended up gaining only 4.2% of the electorate, and had a great debt to pay off.
