Miguel A. Lopes / LUSA
André Ventura (Chega) votes
Candidate for President of the Republic remembers that there is not even electricity or water in many houses. The solution would require an agreement between all municipalities.
“People don’t have electricity, they don’t have water. Are we going to hold elections? – André Ventura wants to postpone the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for this Sunday, the 8th, due to the bad weather that has affected and continues to affect many areas of the country.
“Us we will find the solutiondon’t tell me there is no solution”, defended the candidate supported by Chega.
When asked by journalists what the legal framework for postponing elections at national levelas suggested, Ventura refused to implement it.
However, the National Elections Commission (CNE) that to law “does not allow” the general postponement of elections at national level, but only in municipalities that request itas Alcácer do Sal or Arruda dos Vinhos did.
And constitutionalist Gonçalo Fabião warned that the Constitution makes it difficult this general postponement of an electoral act, in this context. The law only provides for calamity situations, verified parish by parish, municipality by municipality. Only if all mayors agreed to postpone the elections.
André Ventura would opt for this course: he suggested that the solution for the general postponement of the second round of elections could involve a agreement between all municipalities, or by declaring a state of emergency.
“We will certainly meet in parliament, and with the President of the Republic, the foundation for, whether through a state of emergencywhether, for example, through a municipal agreement that involves all municipalities, or almost all, and the National Association of Municipalities represents them, in a type of declaration of calamity in most municipalities, or in all municipalities”, he stated.
The candidate also said that contacted the President of the Republicsuggesting to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa that a “way of checking the possibility of postponing the elections be studied, because people are suffering and it makes no sense for us to treat the Portuguese in one way and others in another”.
“I contacted the President of the Republic in this intermediary because I understand that it may be necessary for this to happen to have a declaration of a state of emergency”, he added, saying that he has not yet received a response from the head of state.
