David Dinis, deputy director of Expresso, Raquel Abecasis, commentator at SIC, Cristina Figueiredo, political editor at SIC, and Nuno Ramos de Almeida, commentator at SIC, analyze the face-to-face between Henrique Gouveia e Melo and João Cotrim de Figueiredo.
Leading up to the presidential elections on January 18th, SIC commentators grade the candidates’ performance in the television debates. This Thursday, it was the turn of the face-to-face between Henrique Gouveia e Melo and João Cotrim de Figueiredo.
Raquel Abecasis
“I think Henrique Gouveia e Melo made a good debut. I gave João Cotrim de Figueiredo a five and Gouveia e Melo an eight. It seemed to me that Cotrim de Figueiredo brought a strategy to the debate that later proved not to be a winning one. In other words, he started by wanting to make a very angry statement with Gouveia e Melo, who was surprisingly calm throughout this debate. Throughout the entire debate we saw João Cotrim de Figueiredo leader of the Liberal Initiative, which, incidentally, stopped being very recently, and in everything he said and defended, in fact, these are the policies he always defended as leader of IL.”
Nuno Ramos de Almeida
“I gave it a draw although for different reasons. Ach that Gouveia e Melo, although his debut was not bad, it is clear that he is still not very open to the debate (…) although he gave several interesting arguments, particularly in relation to the labor package, that the problem of social cohesion is important (…), but then there were some parts that seemed more complicated to me. On Cotrim de Figueiredo’s part, I think the part is the stubbornness of independence. The presidential election is not the heetion for Miss World and it’s not because of their pretty appearance that they’re there (…) I know that Cotrim de Figueiredo has that poster that he has the right profile, but that’s not what’s going to get people to vote.”
Cristina Figueiredo
“Until I entered this studio, I was giving the victory to Cotrim de Figueiredo because I frankly think that the first part of the debate went well for him, exactly dismantling this independence argument. What is the rationale behind this discussion? I understand that Gouveia e Melo wants to position himself as a candidate suprapartybut the truth, and then I think that Cotrim was very good in pointing out that the people who make up Gouveia and Melo’s campaign leadership are anything but independent.”
David Dinis
“Acho that Gouveia e Melo had two very complicated problems that he was unable to overcome. The first is argumentative and to me parewhat me the most important thing is that the asset that Gouveia and Melo present in the presidential elections is that they come from outside and are very independent and others are not. I think that Cotrim de Figueiredo’s entry into a duel disarms these arguments, and disarms, disarms well (…) Then comes the second plan that Gouveia e Melo cannot overcome: he has no argumentative capacity because he has never been in a debate.”
- Look the debate in full
