Presidential candidate António Filipe gave an interview to Lusa in which he argued that a convergence to the left in the presidential elections should be based on his candidacy and not António José Seguro. The opinion is based on considering that Seguro’s positioning will be closer to Marques Mendes.
“If there is to be a convergence towards a left-wing candidacy, I believe that this convergence should be done around my candidacy and not, with all due respect, around António José Seguro’s candidacy. Sand the objective is withdrawals in favor of a left-wing candidate, I ask: who is the other candidate? I have a lot of respect for Dr. António José Seguro, with whom I have been friends for many years, but I don’t consider him to have a left-wing position.”he states.
“It’s closer to Luís Marques Mendes’ position, so I don’t understand that an appeal is being made to me to give up in favor of another candidacy that I don’t consider to be a left-wing candidacy. The fact that he was leader of the PS…I believe that he bears many responsibilities, throughout his political positioning, for the situation of dissatisfaction that the country has reached”he asserts.
The PCP thinks in a similar way to Bloco e Livre, who understood, from the moment Seguro advanced with his candidacy, that it would not be the name that could group the left. Livre, as DN reported, has a chance in civil society, but it also does not exclude its own candidacy. To DN, Rui Tavares said he did not want to be a candidate.
As for Catarina Martins, a candidate supported by the Bloco de Esquerda, the former PCP deputy claims to “greatly respect” the former BE coordinator’s race, admits to “having more convergences than divergences”, but highlights differences: “My candidacy was presented independently of any other candidate possibilities. It is public that Catarina Martins announced her candidacy because Professor Sampaio da Nóvoa did not advance his candidacy. In other words, I’m not a second option. I am a first choice because I consider that I have the conditions to lead a candidacy that is worth it in itself.”
As for formal or informal requests to give up the race so that the left can scatter fewer votes, António Filipe denies that this is a practice in politics. “I don’t remember seeing situations like this, in which it is claimed that there are only conditions for a candidate to win if the others give up. I, joking a little, could say that, if everyone gives up, I win in the first round”, he ironizes in an interview with Lusa.