RUI MINDERICO/LUSA
The candidate for President of the Republic António José Seguro
“As all signatories belong to the non-socialist camp, we understand that André Ventura does not represent us”. Letter continues to collect support online and already has more than 4700 signatures.
More than two hundred figures from the “non-socialist” political area launched this Saturday in support of António José Seguro, praising him for his moderation and stressing that André Ventura does not represent them.
In the letter entitled “Non-socialists for Insurance”250 personalities remember that, despite there also being a second round, this year’s elections “could not be more different” from those of 1986, since they are not facing a candidate from the center-left and another from the center-right, but rather a name from the center-right and another from the “radical right”.
Among the signatories are names such as lawyer Adolfo Mesquita Nunes, former ministers António Capucho, Miguel Poiares Maduro and Arlindo Cunha, former Lisbon City councilor Filipa Roseta, historian José Pacheco Pereira, footballer Francisca Nazareth, comedian José Diogo Quintela, writers Miguel Esteves Cardoso, Henrique Raposo, Pedro Mexia, Afonso Reis Cabral, Rita Ferro and Francisco José Viegas.
The letter, which continues to gather support online and already has more than 4700 signatures at the time of publication of this article, rejects the dichotomy defended by André Ventura, who sees “this suffrage as a confrontation between the left-wing bloc and the right-wing bloc, which he described as the ‘non-socialist’ camp”.
“As all signatories belong to the non-socialist camp, we understand that André Ventura does not represent us. We reject both the style and the substance, the manifest lack of sense of State and the divisionism that the candidate announces by saying from the outset that he does not intend to be the President of all Portuguese”, they emphasize.
The signatories say they see in Ventura “unconstitutional, discriminatory or offensive proposals and positions against human dignity” giving as an example the defense of “ethnic confinements, degrading criminal sanctions, the hypothesis of a return to the death penalty”, the “stigmatization of migrant communities, a razia securitarism” and “alignment with autocrats and authoritarian governments”.
“For these and other reasons, André Ventura does not present objective or subjective conditions to hold the highest position in the State”, they argue.
On the other hand, adds the group, António José Seguro, “has always been linked to the socialist space, avoided factionalism or offense in the campaign, and has a political path of moderation, honesty and dignity”.
“Therefore, the signatories, although non-socialists, vote and call for a vote for António José Seguro. We certainly have ideological disagreements, but we know that António José Seguro will not attack democratic and humanist values, nor the rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens”, emphasize the authors of the letter.
Early voting: registrations open
António José Seguro and André Ventura will compete in the second round of the presidential elections, on February 8, after, on Sunday, the candidate supported by the PS won 31% of the votes and Ventura, leader of Chega, obtained 23%.
Voters can register from this Sunday until Thursday to vote in advance on mobility in February 1 in the second round of the presidential elections.
According to the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration (SGMAI), voters can request a vote by post or electronically, between today and Thursday.
To exercise your right to vote on February 1st, you must go to the polling station in the chosen municipality to vote in the second ballot. For these cases “there will be an early voting table in each municipality on the continent and in the Autonomous Regions”.
For voters who are sick and hospitalized, as well as those who are in prison, they can now request to exercise their right to vote in advance through the same link, or by post, until the following day. January 29th.
In these cases, voting takes place on the 2nd and 3rd of Februaryaccording to the Voter Portal, those registered must wait, “on a previously announced day and time, for the presence of the President of the City Council, or his representative”, at the hospital or prison establishment, to exercise their right to vote.
