Sá Carneiro, Jorge Sampaio and Passos Coelho are references for candidates for Belém

Comments from presidential candidates to frequently asked questions. The late one, the stubborn one, and the one who doesn’t tolerate stupidity.

Marques Mendes, Gouveia e Melo, André Ventura, António José Seguro, João Cotrim de Figueiredo, Catarina Martins, António Filipe and Jorge Pinto.

There are eight of the 11 candidates for President of the Republic. And everyone answered infrequent questions asked by .

Jorge Sampaio, Francisco Sá Carneiro and Pedro Passos Coelho were the three names repeated, when asked who is the greatest political reference national for each of the candidates.

Jorge Pinto spoke about Sampaio, as did Catarina Martins, who highlighted that Jorge Sampaio had a “universe before, during and after the presidency”.

João Cotrim de Figueiredo highlighted the “reformism” of Sá Carneiro, while Marques Mendes added: Sá Carneiro “has obviously passed away but continues to be an example of life and courage”.

Ventura, among the former presidents, highlighted Ramalho Eanes, but he also spoke about Pedro Passos Coelho: “I can say, I think, that I am a friend of Passos Coelho”. Cotrim also highlighted Passos Coelho’s reformism.

António Filipe remembered his “gods of Olympus”, according to him: “I can’t believe it’s me who’s having dinner here with the Oscar Lopesand with the Álvaro Cunhal and with the Jerónimo de Sousa”.

António José Seguro praised Mario Soares e António Guterreswith whom he worked directly.

Gouveia e Melo was the only one not to mention Portuguese references. He preferred a “mixture of Willy Brandt and Helmut Kohl”.

Qualities and defects

Regarding qualities, André Ventura replied that he is persistent; Gouveia e Melo highlighted resilience; Jorge Pinto says that no one fails, not even in words, to be loyal – loyalty was also highlighted by Marques Mendes.

Catarina Martins responded that she can “do a lot of things with some depth in a short time”; Cotrim thinks he can “see and bring out the best in people”.

Seguro says that his greatest quality is being… confident: “It can be summed up as being a trustworthy person”, he explained, between smiles.

About defects, Catarina Martins spoke of her difficulty in saying no; Ventura admitted that he has several flaws, highlighting that he is not very organized or methodical.

Jorge Pinto went to another context: arriving late and continuing to say he was on time; Gouveia e Melo thinks he is too stubborn and doesn’t know when to stop, if he has a certain objective.

Confident is a perfectionist, “which can take away spontaneity and naturalness”; António Filipe said that, when there is a long way to go before a certain goal, he doesn’t concentrate.

Cotrim warns that he is impatient, “especially with mediocrity and stupidity and self-promotion”; Marques Mendes, who cited one of his qualities, explained that he was not going to mention any of his shortcomings because he was going to leave it to the viewers: “No one is a good judge in their own case”.