Around 7,000 voters have already cast their ballots in advance in Lisbon

This Sunday, the university city of Lisbon received about seven thousand people who decided to vote early and prepare for the legislative elections on March 10.

By 12:00, 25% of the 26,792 voters registered for early mobile voting (VAM) had exercised their right to vote, according to a report given to journalists by the Lisbon City Council councilor responsible for this electoral act, Diogo Moura. .

Lisbon City Council initially prepared three locations for VAM, but ended up opening only one, at the Cidade Universitária, because registrations were “significantly lower than predicted.”

In the University City, 107 polling stations were established, distributed among Aula Magna, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Psychology and Cantina Vella.

By 10 a.m., voters of all ages were already present.

One of those who decided to take advantage of this opportunity was Pedro Santos, born in Lisbon, who expressed himself “very excited” about the opportunity to exercise his voting rights in advance.

“It’s always a pleasure for me to vote. It’s almost a holiday, two days off of voting. I don’t have any particular reason. Simply because I wanted to contribute now and next week I will be more rested,” he explained to Lusa after voting at the law school.

In the same building, Jorge Santos also exercised his right to vote and explained to Lusa that he had decided to vote early because he would be away from his place of residence on the 10th.

“I think it’s great because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to vote,” he said, praising any initiatives that could help reduce the abstention rate.

At the Faculty of Arts, Hernani Rodrigues voted for the Braganza circle, which was pleased with the opportunity to vote in advance and the speed with which it cast its vote.

“This is very good. In this situation, when people are forced to leave their homes, this is the only way to vote,” he emphasized.

This idea is shared by Luis Romao, a voter from Setúbal’s circle, who believes that being able to vote early and on the go is beneficial for democracy.

“We must fight, first of all, the lack of interest in civic participation, which is why I came to vote today,” he explained.

Still tax resident in Porto but living in Lisbon, Marcia Ferreira also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

“I think this is great because it effectively gives flexibility to people who don’t have the opportunity to vote on a predetermined date and avoids unnecessary travel on election day,” he said.

The total number of voters who requested to vote this Sunday was 208,007, lower than the 2022 legislative elections (315,785 registered) but much higher than the 2019 legislative elections (56,291).

The so-called mobility vote allows voters to vote a week in advance in the municipality of their choice. If they don’t, they can do it on Election Day, which is the 10th.

More than 10.8 million Portuguese are called upon to vote in the selection of 230 deputies to the Assembly of the Republic.

18 political forces are competing in these elections – 15 parties and three coalitions.