André Ventura criticizes maintenance of presidential elections amid appeal from socialist mayor

Presidential candidate André Ventura invoked the “desperate appeal” of Clarisse Campos, president of the Chamber of Alcácer do Sal, elected by the PS, to criticize the “political hypocrisy” of holding the second round of the presidential elections for next Sunday, February 8th.

Defending being “completely non-partisan”, by quoting the socialist mayor, who said that “it’s easy to be in a warm chair, in Lisbon, saying that we shouldn’t postpone the elections”André Ventura, who took advantage of the last day of the electoral campaign to deliver essential goods to Alcácer do Sal, said that politicians missed “an opportunity to show the country that we care”.

The appeal to postpone the second round to February 15 across the country, made by Chega’s leader on Thursday, was considered legally impossible by the National Elections Commission.s – so far, only the mayors of Alcácer do Sal, Arruda dos Vinhos and Golegã have decided to postpone the electoral act, due to the destruction caused by bad weather – and reduced to “a small maneuver” by his opponent in the race for the Belém Palace, António José Seguro, while the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, responded that there would be no “political conditions” for declaring a state of emergency.

Speaking to journalists, before leaving for Camarate, where tonight he will visit the Volunteer Firefighters, who are preparing the response to the depression Marta, André Ventura once again defended that municipal councils and parish councils “should be focused on helping people and not organizing electoral events”arguing that the responsibility for the possible increase in abstention in the second round of the presidential elections “will lie with those who want to maintain the elections at all costs, with half the country devastated by the storm and at risk of new storms”.

Admitting that he will return to Alcácer do Sal, and other municipalities affected by extreme weather phenomena, to help the populations, Ventura announced that he gave instructions to all Chega local structures to mobilize next week, “to deliver tarpaulins, food and animal feed”.