Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
The coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Catarina Martins
Candidates are late in collecting the 7,500 signatures needed to formalize the race for Belém. Even Manuel João Vieira (who is expected to participate in the RTP debate) already has the dossier prepared.
If, on the one hand, João Cotrim Figueiredo, André Ventura, Henrique Gouveia e Melo or even Manuel João Vieira — the candidate who “only gives up if he wins” — have already comfortably exceeded the minimum number of signatures required to formalize their candidacy for President of the Republic, on the other side are the candidates Jorge Pinto (Free) and Catarina Martins (BE), who are still struggling to ensure their presence on the ballot.
Both moved late to make their candidacy official (Catarina Martins on October 18th, shortly after the local elections, and Jorge Pinto only on November 1st) and the window is closing with each passing day.
The Livre candidate has increasingly made appeals on social media. After the debate with António José Seguro, on December 1st, Jorge Pinto obtained a few more signatures, says , but even so it would not have been enough. On Instagram, he wrote:
“I left the debate even more certain than I already knew: it’s worth getting this candidacy off the ground. Now we’re missing the detail that decides everything. We need 1,000 signatures to guarantee my newsletter. If you believe in this path, give me that push”, followed by a link to signatures in support of his candidacy. And the next day, another direct appeal.
Livre’s candidacy combines digital collection with paper forms, which slows down the validation process and means that the delivery of signatures to the TC only takes place close to the end of the deadline, depending on the campaign agenda.
The Left Bloc also distributed the effort across the territory, involving districts in the collection. Catarina Martins’ candidacy has not disclosed how many signatures it has already gathered, but admits that delivery will be made next week.
But what makes this collection of signatures different from those of other candidates, who are already comfortable?
João Cotrim Figueiredo was the first to arrive at the TC, on November 3rd, after reaching the minimum amount of support in just 48 hours, thanks to the mobilization of the Liberal Initiative’s digital databases and a completely dematerialized system: no face-to-face contacts and no paper sheets, just a counter on the website and regular publications on social media.
Andre Ventura It was even faster. The leader of Chega announced on November 12 that he managed to gather 7,500 signatures in just five hours, using the Electoral Administration platform with a digital mobile key.
Already Henrique Gouveia e Melo chose the date of December 10, International Human Rights Day, for the official delivery. In his case, the collection started very early: he combined digital tools with stalls in district capitals and actions even on the beaches during the summer.
Also Antonio Filipe closed the dossier comfortably, with 12,888 proposals submitted.
The campaigns António José Seguro e Luís Marques Mendes They also consider the number of signatures to be more than complete: all that remains is to formalize it with the TC.
Even the musician, who in previous elections had never managed to validate 7,500 signatures, now presented 12,500. And the painter Humberto Correiawho says he goes dressed as D. Afonso Henriques across the country, delivered 9,500 signatures collected almost alone over four months: he has no party support, but says he sent more than 200,000 letters across the country.
