Presidential candidate Gouveia e Melo states that Mário Soares is his model for President, highlights Ramalho Eanes’ contribution to democracy, but separates himself from unelected military heads of state in the post-25th of April era.
“The President [da República] The one that I liked the most and that I see myself in him for several things, even as a human being, is Mário Soares”, says the former Chief of Staff of the Navy in an interview with the Lusa agency.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo considers that Ramalho Eanes was also “very important” in a phase of democracy – and that without Eanes and Soares it would not have the democracy it has today.
In relation to Jorge Sampaio, Cavaco Silva and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the admiral considers that “they were already a sequence”.
“Maybe because they are a sequel, I no longer gave them so much benefit of the doubt. But my model, if I had to choose one, would be Mário Soares. I really admire Dr. Mário Soares”, he emphasized.
In contrast, Henrique Gouveia e Melo completely separates himself from the first heads of state of Portuguese democracy, António de Spínola and Costa Gomes, both military men.
“They entered the Presidency [da República] through a military coup, or as a result of a military revolution – and I have an absolute difference in relation to that. General Ramalho Eanes himself, when he was elected for the first time, was an active soldier, chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and was on the Revolution Council”, he points out.
Next, he sought to highlight differences in relation to his current situation as a candidate in the race for Belém.
“I’m a civilian, I’m very proud of my military past and I’m not ashamed of anything. On the contrary, I understand that it’s an added value. But I’m a civilian with the civic rights of every citizen”, he declares.
Gouveia e Melo, in this context, even says that the thesis about the existence of dangers due to being in the military “annoys” him.
“I’m not here because a military coup is being carried out, or because the military from where I left said I’m going there to carry out a military coup. The military, perhaps, would even prefer me to stay there. I’m here as a citizen with the same rights, freedoms and guarantees and with the same duties as any other citizen”, he emphasizes.
He also complains about questions that were systematically asked of him before formalizing his candidacy for Belém, questions that, from his perspective, had an underlying type of blackmail.
“They asked me: What are you going to do in the future? Are you going to be a politician? If you said yes, you would have to leave my duties immediately. If you said no, they wanted it to be known. That was blackmail that they did to me every day – and I started saying no.”
And did you explain why? “I didn’t want to subject myself to this blackmail. No one has the right to limit anyone’s future options, because this is not a right required by the Constitution or Portuguese law for any soldier”, he adds.
In this interview, Gouveia e Melo relativizes the polls, pointing out that the real one will only be carried out on January 18th.
He refuses that his candidacy has suffered deterioration in recent months and justifies any decline due to the fact that there are now presidential candidates “from practically all parties”.
“The fact that a candidate appears for each party group forces the votes to be divided. Naturally, I fell in the polls more due to this effect than due to the effect of attrition”, he argues.
When asked if he fears being left with only the marginal electorate of each of the main parties, the admiral rejects this perspective, claiming that “party loyalty today is not what it was 20 years ago”.
“The parties do not own their areas of ideological influence”, he argues.
From a political point of view, Henrique Gouveia e Melo claims to place himself at the center and says he will not change his strategy depending on his opponent in a possible second round of the presidential elections.
“There is no specific strategy. I am in the center. Naturally, a right-wing candidate who goes with me [à segunda volta] he will have to fight the center and the left, because the left will not vote for a right-wing candidate. And a left-wing candidate who goes with me will have to fight the center and the right. All the polls show that I will win in the second round, even the worst of the polls”, he highlights.
