“The fight for the country will continue”: CDU candidate for the European Championship

The head of the CDU list today welcomed those who “managed to look behind the smokescreen” and went against the “single mind” by voting for the coalition, and refused to comment on the results, considering the data “very uncertain.”

In a statement made at a Lisbon hotel on CDU election night, João Oliveira thanked those who made the “brave choice” of voting for the coalition, “despite the obscurantism, the conformism with which they sought to condition and imprison conscience.” “.

“They did not allow themselves to be conditioned by fear, by dogma, be it neoliberalism or militarism, or by the logic of confrontational politics as the only way out for relations between peoples,” he said.

According to João Oliveira, by voting for the CDU, the Portuguese rejected “the visions and concepts of a single thought” and did not allow themselves to be conditioned by “voting options in the already known artificial bipolarization.”

“A vote for the CDU in these European Parliament elections is, in essence, a vote of those who managed to see something behind the smokescreen, of those who managed to go beyond the manipulations, propaganda of prejudices and lies used,” he said. .

Referring to an article in the online newspaper Politico published last Thursday, which indicated that the two PKP MEPs did not vote for any resolution condemning Russia, characterizing them as Moscow’s “best friends”, João Oliveira believes that the coalition became the target of “disgusting campaigns of lies, falsification, distortion of facts and insults to its positions,” including through the use of “international means.”

João Oliveira believed that the purpose of this article was not only to “attack the CDU, but above all to formulate its positions so that they cease to be what they have always been.”

“If the CDU deputies had voted for sanctions, the sending of weapons, the continuation of the war, then there would be no “ratings” in which the CDU deputies would appear,” he said, regretting that “the ratings of the work done to protect people and the country.”

Asked whether he believed that the possible non-election of two MEPs – as TV forecasts suggest – could be interpreted as a defeat, the candidate declined to comment for now, emphasizing that the data he has is still “very limited and very uncertain.” .

“But I can guarantee that with the strength that the people give us, we will continue to fight with the same goals, facing difficulties, taking advantage of the opportunities that will arise over time, but we will continue to fight for politics with exactly the same determination , meeting the needs of our people and country,” he said.

Asked whether, given the CDU’s electoral decline, the coalition should rethink its strategy, João Oliveira said there had also been an “upward trajectory” previously.

“The problem with trajectories is always knowing when to give the impulse to flip the board,” he said.

However, the candidate admitted that in this election, if the CDU had more strength, he “would naturally be in a better position to defend the workers and the people.”

João Oliveira hailed the “thousands” of CDU activists who participated in the campaign, saying they had managed to “open minds” and “have an effect that goes far beyond the election results themselves.”

“The struggle of the workers and the people after this intense election campaign and open consciousness across the country is already starting from a more advanced point than where we started before the election campaign,” he said, adding that “the fight for the country will continue.”

Asked whether he would take it as a personal defeat if it were confirmed that the CDU would not elect two MEPs, João Oliveira replied: “If we had large reinforcements, it would not be my merit either, so I think the criterion is accurate same”.