RUI MINDERICO/LUSA
The candidate for President of the Republic, André Ventura
Presidential candidate André Ventura defended that the campaign should not be made up of attacks, after having in the past classified political opponents as “smugglers”, “ghosts” or “drunken grandfathers”.
Speaking to journalists before a street rally in Viseu, André Ventura refused a campaign of attacks.
“I want to run an elevated campaign, discuss the causes and problems of the country. That’s what I want and I think people want that”, he said, rejecting a campaign in which he is talking about what he thinks of António Costa, Gouveia e Melo, Seguro or Marques Mendes – political figures he has criticized throughout the campaign.
The presidential candidate refused to make these attacks, even after being reminded by a SIC journalist of past statements made to political opponents.
“SIC is much more experienced in saying bad things about me than I am about other opponents”, replied the also president of Chega, applauded by activists who surrounded him as he spoke to journalists.
However, in the 2021 presidential electionsin which he also competed, Ventura resorted to personal insults to his opponents on several occasions, speaking of Jerónimo de Sousa as “drunken grandfather that we have at home” and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as “a kind of ghost”.
In this campaign, the candidate called Ana Gomes as “smuggler” and “gypsy”, he spoke of Marisa Matias as the “marijuana” candidate and addressed João Ferreira as “plastic comrade” with “the air of a worker from Cascais”.
In statements to journalists and before reviews by António José Segurosupported by the PS, which accuses him of being an extremist, André Ventura accused him of trying to scare voters.
“This is not the case now. António Costa did the same, Pedro Nuno Santos did the same. The PS leaders have specialized in thiswhich is to say, if André Ventura wins or Chega wins, racism will come, fascism will come, a return to the past will come”, he stressed.
At the same time that he refused a campaign of attacks, if he wins, he accused I’m sure you’re worried about the end of “the pots”.
“We can spend the rest of the campaign with António José Seguro calling me a fascist and racist and me saying that he is a tachista and attached to regime corruption or we can discuss important topics”, he said, criticizing, once again, the creation of more vice-presidents in the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CCDR) and an agreement between PS and PSD for the distribution of these seats.
“Do you agree or not that these CCDRs have become deposits of former PS and PSD mayors and golden reforms? Do you agree or not with the increase of 25 vice-presidents of the CCDR?”, he asked, addressing Seguro.
