Montenegro expects to cope with presidential elections “in about two years”

SDP leader Luis Montenegro said this Wednesday that the party would hold a presidential election “in about two years or less” and did not comment on possible candidates, assuring that the Social Democrats were “very focused and determined” to be in opposition.

A few minutes before the reception of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, upon arrival at the SDP Summer University, which is taking place in Castelo de Vide, Luis Montenegro was asked about the fact that the former SDP leader Luis Marques Méndez admitted on Sunday to the presidential candidacy “if it good for the country.”

“Now is not the time or place to talk about the presidential election. I plan to talk about it in about two years,” he began with a response.

Faced with the persistence of journalists, the leader of the Social Democrats repeated that from the party point of view, the SDP expects to “deal with this issue in about two years.”

“In the PSD, we are very focused and committed to fulfilling our task of being in opposition to the government and being an alternative to participate in and win the next parliamentary elections, and we increasingly feel that the Portuguese people are with us on this path and to this end create a new government for Portugal,” he replied when asked about the words of former CDS-PP leader Paulo Portas the day before, precisely at the SDP Summer University.

Paulo Portas said on Tuesday that the priority of the non-socialist space should be to create an alternative to the successor to Prime Minister António Costa, and not to find a successor to the President of the Republic.

In his television commentary on Sunday’s edition of SIC, Marquês Méndez was asked about the political significance of his presence at Festa do Pontal, PSD’s mid-August lease in the Algarve, and whether this would be linked to a possible deal to support Luis Montenegro in his candidacy for Belém.

“Never in my life have I spoken to Luis Montenegro about presidential elections, there is nothing to talk about, there is no agreement,” Marques Mendez assured, stating that at the moment “there is no solution, not even a desire.”

However, the former SDP chairman wanted to add the conditions for making such a decision or not in the future.

“If one day I think that by nominating a candidate for the post of President of the Republic, I can be useful to the country – that’s what matters – if I see that my candidacy and the minimum conditions for its implementation bring some benefit to the country, I am frank, I will make this decision regardless of agreement or disagreement,” he said.