Presidential candidate António José Seguro said that, if he is elected this Sunday, he will inaugurate a possible future Government of André Venturawho is his rival in the second round. But he added, in an interview with TVI, given three hours before the end of the electoral campaign, that he would do so “with demands” from Chega’s leader.
“There had to be a serious conversation about the Government Program that was going to be presented”, he replied Secure to journalist Sandra Felgueiras, who asked him if he would do “everything in his power to prevent André Ventura from becoming prime minister”.
Among the demands, the former secretary general of the PS, who is the clear favorite in the polls for Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s succession as Presidency of the Republic, said that there should be “a filter” on ministers, without specifying what restrictions they would impose, but mainly respect for the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. “For me, there will be no unconstitutional governments”, he defended.
“The role of the President of the Republic is, taking into account the results, to listen to the political parties, and invite whoever is in the best position to form a Government”, said António José Seguro, denying that, in a scenario in which Chega did not have an absolute majority, it would commit to forming a “contraption” between other party forces. “The responsibility for forming majorities lies with Parliament,” he said.
In the interview with TVI, the presidential candidate, who was in the Porto studios, preparing for the closing rally of his campaign, in Leça do Balio (Matosinhos), addressed the response to the populations affected by the bad weather. “The Portuguese State is not prepared and has to be prepared”, he said, especially because “we are going to have more severe weather situations and we are going to have them more frequently”.
Despite that, Seguro avoided direct criticism of the actions of the Luís Montenegro Government. “Our priority is to help people and companies and not to determine responsibilities”, he saidwithout saying whether, if he were already the Head of State, he would demand the removal of the Minister of Internal Administration, Maria Lúcia Amaral, for having admitted that she did not know what had gone wrong.
Regarding this Sunday’s second round, which he once again insisted was not won at the outset, as “polls don’t win elections”, Seguro said that Ventura is a risk to democracy, as he “resorts to methods that are not democratic” and “tries, at the end of the game, to change the rules”. It would have been a reference to the call, made by Chega’s leader, for the elections to be postponed until February 15, due to the effects of bad weather in several regions of the country, although the interviewer did not ask him any questions on this topic.
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