The image of boats carrying ballot boxes from completely flooded areas moved me deeply and will certainly become the iconic symbol of the great lesson that came out of the election night on February 8th. Proof of the Portuguese people’s love for Democracy and freedom and their determination to exercise their inalienable (and unpostponable) right to vote.
Abstention was below that seen in the presidential elections of 2001, 2011, 2016 and 2021 and, in many of the 68 municipalities that are in a Situation of Calamity, the abstention data is even lower than the general figure found (49.89%).
The Portuguese demonstrated that voting is a priority and clearly refused the proposal to postpone the presidential elections, which had neither a constitutional or legal framework nor political justification. A real lesson that we, as a people, gave to the candidate who, devaluing Democracy, presented the postponement proposal. In a State of Law, elections cannot be postponed contrary to the Constitution and the law, creating a very dangerous precedent.
In turn, the results of the elections also reveal that voters realized that what was at stake was Democracy, freedom and the guarantee of fundamental rights for all, and not a fight between political forces, electing by two thirds of the votes the only candidate who represents these values.
If there were any doubts, the Portuguese clearly showed that they defend the regime established by the 25th of April by choosing a President of the Republic who will respect and enforce the Constitution and ensure the regular functioning of democratic institutions, rejecting the “anti-system” speech, which is nothing more than anti-democratic speech.
But this election also has an additional interpretation: it means that the constitutional option of consecrating the election by direct and universal suffrage of the President of the Republic, giving him his own legitimacy, was also approved by the Portuguese people. Regardless of who occupies the position of President or the political force(s) that are in the Government at any given moment, the separation of powers that arises from semi-presidentialism with a parliamentary bias enshrined in our Constitution works as a democratically healthy system of checks and balances.
Finally, but not least, this was the victory of the candidate who called for conciliation and tolerance, rejecting populism.
At a time when authoritarianism, demagogy, repression and intolerance are growing in the international context, electing a President of the Republic who represents and defends the values of Democracy and decency places Portugal definitively “on the right side of History”, which, as a Portuguese woman, makes me very proud of our country and my fellow citizens.
This is the great meaning that comes from the second round of these presidential elections, from António José Seguro’s victory and, I am sure, from his mandate.
Councilor at Lisbon City Council elected by the PS
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