Chegi President Andre Ventura promised this Monday that the party would have its own candidate in the 2026 presidential election if the options were Luis Márquez Méndez and Augusto Santos Silva, calling it a “legitimate defense.”
Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the housing and homelessness initiative in Lisbon, André Ventura wanted to comment on the opportunity allowed on Sunday evening by Marques Mendes to be a candidate for the presidency of the republic.
With this move by the former SDP leader, President Chega considered that there was an opportunity to run in the 2026 presidential election for two of Chega’s “declared enemies”: President of the Assembly of the Republic Augusto Santos Silva. (left) and former SDP leader Luis Marquez Méndez (right).
“I wanted to say without any doubt, without second rounds and without irrevocably: if this is the scenario of the presidential elections, Chega will again have a presidential candidate, and we will strive to break the dominance of these two personalities, who are not good for democracy and for Portugal,” – he said.
Ventura did not want to confirm whether he himself could be a candidate, as happened in 2021 — “may or may not be” — and left open the possibility that Chega would support a right-wing candidate of one party or another. , depending on who it was, saying only “to respect” Paulo Portas, but doubting that the former SDS-PP leader would move to Belém.
“As for these two candidates, I know what they say and think about Chega, and also about the difficulties they can create, namely for Chega’s participation in a constitutional government,” he insisted, considering that both Santos Silva and Marques Mendez will be “definitely” Presidents worse than current head of state Marcelo Rebelo de Souza.
Asked if the left-wing presidential candidate would benefit from a split on the right, Andre Ventura said he was convinced the election would be very contentious with a second round.
“Voters on the right will have to choose whether they prefer candidate Chega or Luis Marques Mendez (…) Our battle is on the right and we want to have a candidate that will prevent Luis Marquez Mendes from reaching second place. round, and this prevents Marquez Mendes or Santos Silva from becoming presidents of the republic,” he stressed.
In his televised commentary to the SIC on Sunday evening, former SDP President Luis Marquez Mendez acknowledged his presidential candidacy “if it is good for the country” and “the minimum conditions for moving forward”, rejecting any decision for now or according to the leader Social Democrats Luis Montenegro.
“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 consent or lack thereof,” he said.
The former leader of the parliament stressed that this is “a free, personal and individual decision.”
“I insist: if there is a benefit for the country and a minimum of conditions, if these requirements are not met, there will be no decision and everything is in order,” Mendez said, considering that “this is a very difficult decision” and stressing that before the presidential elections in January 2026 lacks “eternity”.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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