Belém Palace
António José Seguro and André Ventura exchanged arguments and accusations intensely and distanced themselves on topics such as immigration, the powers of the President of the Republic and labor legislation.
António José Seguro and André Ventura This Monday, they were face to face, on TVI, in the first of 28 debates between the eight presidential candidates.
The leader of Chega tried to attach Seguro, supported by the PS, to the “inheritance” left by the socialist government, but the former socialist general secretary replied: “if you want to debate with the PS, I will give you the telephone number of Dr. José Luís Carneiro and debate with him”.
“I think the deputy is in the wrong election. Because it really should be in the legislative elections. Six months ago he was asking the Portuguese to vote for him and at this moment he has encouraged those Portuguese votes and is running for President of the Republic. Don’t you think this violates the contract of trust that the Portuguese gave you when they voted for you?”, asked Seguro.
In response, Ventura said that he would only be “in the wrong election if being President of the Republic is a garland”, which he refused to be.
“I’m going to tell you why I’m in the right election. Because I’m the President who wants to punch the tablewho wants to prevent chacha talk from continuing to be the conversation that leads people to the Presidency of the Republic”, countered the Chega leader.
Insurance gave Ventura a health pact
Seguro brought with him the script for the health pact that he has been defending and made a point of deliver a copy to Ventura during the debate, explaining that he did so in his capacity as party leadera circumstance in which he hopes to “welcome him to Belém in four months”.
“I see what you say and I see that there is no solution at all. There is the same conversation that they had for 50 years about health and that led to the state we are in”, replied Ventura when he received the document, considering that the solution for health “is to put the Portuguese first”.
After mentioning countries such as Bangladesh and Pakistan, the presidential candidate supported by the PS accused Ventura of “stigmatizing minorities” and also immigrants who come to work in Portugal, using false data about access to healthcare.
Ventura “was already on the right side”
That’s when Seguro used André Ventura’s 2013 doctoral thesis to attack him, considering that, at that time, his opponent was “on the right side” and drew attention to “a stigmatization of minorities”.
“Do you know how much we spend every year in healthcare on waste and fraud? It’s more than a billion euros a year in waste. If you want to do something, start by doing this”, replied Ventura.
