António Sampaio da Nóvoa
The impasse around António Sampaio da Nóvoa is forcing the free and the left block to consider his own candidacies and insurance critics in the PS to reconsider.
Five months from the presidential election, the left and free block continue without an official candidate. The name of António Sampaio da Nóvoa It has been the favorite of the two parties and a significant wing of the Socialist Party (PS), but their hesitation is generating growing frustration among parties that defend an aggregating and independent candidacy.
Sampaio da Nóvoa, former dean of the University of Lisbon and presidential candidate in 2016 with 23% of the voteshas given ambiguous signs, refusing to feed expectations. The left, which sees in this figure the best hypothesis of taking the elections to a second lap, begins to admit alternative plans. According to the Sampaio da Nóvoa no advance does not advance, be and free put their own candidacies.
Be already admits repeating the strategy used with Fernando Rosas, Francisco Louça or Marisa Matias, while free, without Rui Tavares, considers launching a woman as a candidate, namely Patrícia Gonçalves, deputy and university professor.
The pressure also increases within the PS, with heavy figures like Augusto Santos Silva and Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues to openly support Nóvoa’s candidacy. The latter even suggested that even old critics of António José Seguro could reconsider his support if the indecision continues.
The left believes that, in the face of the scenario of a fragmentation of the right with potential candidates by João Cotrim de Figueiredo, Rui Moreira and André Ventura, a Centro-left aggregate candidacy It should get between 10% to 15% of the votes and ensure the presence on a second round.
However, both BE and Free exclude any support from PCP candidate António Filipe, claiming a lack of availability of communists to converge into a common solution. Although Filipe’s name can integrate an internal referendum on the free, the party’s understanding is that the PCP candidate represents a distinct electorate.
