“I might lose”: Marques Mendes’ almost forbidden phrase

New numbers. Candidate for President of the Republic left an “important appeal to voters in the center”.

Hours after the publication of the first daily heading towards the presidential elections, Luís Brands Mendes reacted.

Within the technical tie and the evident (and expected) balance, the first surprise was to see António José Seguro in first place, although with very small margins.

The second surprise was seeing Luís Marques Mendes in fifth place, far from the top four.

This Tuesday, Marques Mendes began by highlighting that these new numbers place him once again as big favorite to go through to the second roundwhere there will only be two candidates.

“Therefore, I will not change anything: I will continue with humility, without triumphalism and with a lot of conviction”, he commented, in a conversation with journalists, in Torres Vedras.

However, Marques Mendes did not hide his request: “I make a important appeal to voters in the center not to scatter votes. Why, If there is a large dispersion of votes, I could lose this election.”

“It’s not said”

Therefore, we repeat the statement, or the essential part of this statement: “…I might lose.”

Helena Pereira sees a bad sign in these words, because it is a “sign of weakness”, especially coming from someone with so much political experience.

The commentator believes that the television debate with Gouveia e Melo harmed her campaign.

And, in a clearly divided right-wing electorate, Marques Mendes could even come out on top – despite the reinforcement in support given by and even .

In the same Público program, Ana Sá Lopes warns that this phrase is “quite deadly”. It’s a phrase that “cannot be said” – and Marques Mendes should know that.

Ana adds that the doubts surrounding her profession and an apparent “cohesion” with the Government (which is in a complicated phase due to the labor package proposal) also do not help the former minister.