António Cotrim / Lusa
One hundred personalities from the center-right area, mostly from the PSD, released a manifesto in support of Gouveia e Melo’s presidential candidacy, a document that mentions Sá Carneiro and warns of the crisis of democracy.
PSD figures such as Adão Silva, Alberto João Jardim, Ângelo Correia, António Capucho, David Justino, Fernando Negrão, Henrique Chaves, Isabel Meireles, Manuela Aguiar, Miguel Cadilhe, Mónica Quintela and Paulo Mota Pinto.
“Over time, and in many circumstances of their lives, the undersigned have served or still serve the country through the parties that are part of the AD (Democratic Alliance), carrying out the most diverse functions as members of internal bodies of the PSD or CDS, or in public positions appointed by these parties, or even in governments supported by them”, the document states.
No “manifesto of the hundred” There are also former CDS officials such as Laplaine Guimarãesthe former president of the party Francisco Rodrigues do Santos and the Madeiran José Manuel Rodrigues. It is also signed by former governments such as the former Secretary of State Alipio Dias and the former mayor of Lisbon Carmona Rodriguesbetween others.
The manifesto’s subscribers believe that the current situation requires “attitudes of courage and frontality in the genuine defense of the country’s best interests”, especially in the face of the “complex global political-military situation”.
They also mention the existence of a “notorious dissatisfaction with the degradation of the quality of representative democracywhich has given rise to a dangerous growth of intolerance and the most extremist forces”, as well as a “poor economic and social performance”.
A set of circumstances that are said to lead to a “fading of hope and confidence in politics and its main agents”.
Evocation of Sá Carneiro
In this context, to another the founder and first leader of the PPD, Francisco Sá Carneirowhich “taught the order of priorities: first the country, then the party and, finally, the personal circumstances of each one”.
“In the presidential elections on the 18th, we must be able to choose the candidate that best suits the needs that Portugal faces. We need a President of the Republic who, due to his knowledge and professional experience, has the appropriate profile for the moment we live in; who is in-depth knowledge of global geopolitics, a convinced Europeanist and a democrat capable of helping to promote the reforms that the regime and society so desperately need”, the document states.
It is then considered that the admiral is “someone who, through his career, has the possibility of being transversal to society as a wholeconvinced of his ideas, equidistant from all parties and independent of any and all corporate or sectoral interests”.
“Someone with a sense of State and with the necessary gravitas to represent Portugal in accordance with the respect, dignity and honor that our History imposes”, he adds.
