In the next presidential elections, Portuguese voters will find 14 names on the ballot papers, but only 11 are valid. This situation had already occurred five years ago and has generated criticism from several candidates for Belém, who consider the case a “symptom of negligence on the part of the State.”
When Portuguese voters enter the voting booth to choose the next president of the Republic, it is very likely that they will find 14 names, but only 11 can actually reach Belém.
It’s a repeated mistake. There is five years There was also one more candidate, but five years were not enough to prevent the problem from recurring.
“This cannot be like that. There is a court that decides that there are only 11 candidates and there is an internal administration body that orders a bulletin to be printed with 14 candidates. Do you think this is normal? I don’t think so”, says António José Seguro.
“I think that more than strange, it is a symptom of negligence on the part of the State, I find it unspeakable, I find it regrettable,” said Luís Marques Mendes.
The issue is, above all, one of organization. The Constitutional Court (TC) has already excluded three candidaciesbut as candidates who were excluded can still complain, the You can’t remove them from the bulletins that have to start being printed.
Therefore, it is not worth voting for Ricardo Sousanor in Joana Amaral Diasnor in José Cardoso.
“Having names of people who are not candidates on a ballot paper is absurd, it’s absurd, it’s confusing, there’s no reason for it to be that way, I know it’s already happened in the past, but if it’s already happened in the past, all the more reason for it to be corrected,” stated the candidate supported by the Bloco de Esquerda, Catarina Martins.
“We are worried about the ballot paper that will be presented to the Portuguese, all over the world, in the first round, but no one is discussing what the ballot papers for the second round of Portuguese people abroad will be like. Between the time of printing the new ballot papers, which will certainly include my name, until getting them to consulates all over the world, it is a logistical operation with a lot of significance”, highlighted João Cotrim de Figueiredo.
Votes for excluded candidates will be considered null.
