Candidates for legislative elections can be nominated until January 29.

Candidates for early legislative elections scheduled for March 10 can be nominated until January 29, and coalitions between parties must be announced no later than the day before, according to a calendar published by the CNE this Wednesday.

The election campaign will take place from February 25 to March 8 in accordance with the electoral legislation.

According to the calendar map published on the website of the National Electoral Commission (CNE), voters who intend to vote in advance in mobility must express this intention between February 25 and 29 and will be able to exercise this right on March 3. The Sunday before the election.

The renewal of voter registration had already been suspended following the decree of the President of the Republic dissolving the Assembly of the Republic on Monday and officially setting early legislative elections for March 10.

After the nominations for legislative elections are presented, the judge begins compiling lists the next day to organize the ballot papers and verify the authenticity of the documents and the eligibility of the candidates within two days.

Before the last day of the nomination deadline, parties and coalitions must submit their respective election budget to the Political Accounting and Finance Authority in accordance with the Party and Campaign Finance Law.

Regarding the media, CNE states that debates held during election periods “respect the principle of editorial freedom and programming autonomy” but “must take into account the political and social representation of competing candidates”, which is “measured taking into account that the candidate obtained representation at the last election in relation to the body for which he is standing.”

From February 25 to March 10, between the start of the election campaign and the end of voting, “media that include candidates in the election campaign as regular contributors, in the opinion space, as commentators, analysts, columnists or through other equivalent forms of cooperation, they must suspend this participation and cooperation,” according to the legal regime for journalistic reporting during election periods.

From the end of the campaign, at 00:00 on March 9, until the close of polling stations throughout the country, at 20:00 (Lisbon time) on March 10, “publication and distribution, as well as comments, are prohibited, analysis and forecasting of the results of any public opinion poll or a survey directly or indirectly related to electoral activities,” in accordance with the legal regime for the publication or dissemination of public opinion polls and surveys.

Public authorities, after the publication of a decree setting the date of elections, “may not interfere directly or indirectly in the election campaign or take any action that favors or harms one candidate to the detriment or advantage of another or others” and “Institutional advertising by public authorities and public authorities is prohibited acts, programs, works or services, except in cases of serious and urgent public need.”

As for voting by emigrants, from January 30, “the Ministry of the Interior will send ballots to citizens registered in the voter lists compiled by census commissions abroad who decided to vote by mail.”

Under election law provisions, voters living abroad can choose between voting in person or voting by mail “before the date of each election”, and unless they exercise their right to refuse, voting by mail will take precedence.

In-person voting at polling stations abroad will begin a day earlier and will take place from March 9 to 10.

The map, with the distribution of 230 deputies in 22 constituencies depending on the number of voters, was published on Tuesday and includes a change from previous legislative ones: the Setubal circle will elect one more deputy, and Viana the Castle minus one.