The matches of the first Football League will coincide on Sunday with legislative elections, the 11th time in history and the fifth in the history of democracy, in a context experienced in the Estado Novo and confirmed in two of the last three electoral rights.
In the 25th round, Sporting defend their isolated lead in Arouca from 18:00, an hour before the close of polling stations on the Portuguese mainland, which will open from 8:00, while national champions Benfica host Estoril Praia at 20 :30 at the Estádio da Luz stadium. , in Lisbon.
The compressed schedule of the Lions and Eagles, who are in the middle of the 16th round of the Europa League and must observe an interval of 72 regulation hours between competitions, dictated this coincidence of events stipulated by the national elections. Commission (CNE).
More than 10.8 million people in Portugal and abroad will be called upon to vote to elect 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic, just over two years after the last legislative elections made possible the PS’s second absolute majority ever.
On January 30, 2022, the political force, then commanded by the current Prime Minister António Costa, won 41.37% of the votes and 120 of the 230 possible seats in the elections, which, like 2024, were held early and with the addition of football.
Porto defeated Maritimo (2:1) in the 20th round of the First League, while Sporting Braga and Visela beat Minho’s neighbors Moreirense (2-0) and Vitoria de Guimarães (3-2) ). neglecting Portimonense’s home defeat to Tondela (2-1).
In these legislative elections, 48.58% abstained, lower than the record of 51.43% in 2019 (the last year without football interference on voting day), but higher than 44.14% on 4 October 2015, when three of the four scheduled games.
While Sporting Braga drew at home with Arouca, Porto and Sporting beat Belenenses (4-0) and Vitória de Guimarães (5-1) respectively, and due to fog the reception ” Uniana da Madeira” to “Benfica” was postponed until December, without 0:0 preventing the “eagles” from becoming three-time national champions at the end of the season.
At that time, António Costa had already been nominated for the post of Prime Minister thanks to the parliamentary “cunning” between the PS, Bloco de Esquerda and PCP-PEV, despite the success that was celebrated in the elections of the PPD/PSD and CDS-PP through the Portuguese Party. Coalition Front.
According to the Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP), Dragao (34,109 spectators) and Alvalade (31,295) surpassed half the house in circumstances that did not exist 20 years ago, during the first elections of socialist Antonio Guterres.
1 October 1995, this time without the big boys, Lesa-Sporting Braga (0–1), Gil Vicente Farense (2–2), Belenenses-Unian de Leiria (3–1) ), Tirsense Felgueiras (0-0) and Desportivo de Chávez-Campomaiorense (4-1) completed the schedule for the sixth round of the I League, between which there were eight more games in the second division, a panorama that recovered in 2022 and will continue this year. , with Tondela-Marine scheduled for 11 a.m. Sunday.
The tradition of no football on election days had already covered 13 of the 16 ballot papers in the Assembly of the Republic, and the first exception was made on 2 December 1979 with the Democratic Alliance (AD), formed by Francisco Sá Carneiro’s PSD. , CDS and PPM – the first of six absolute majorities of the III Republic in the Portuguese Cup.
Benfica-Quimigal (3-0), Porto Lusitania dos Azores (2-0) or Amarante-Sporting (1-1) forced a play-off game in Alvalade three days later after extra time, in which The Lions’ 5-0 win stood out among the 60 third-round Tests this Sunday.
The abstention rate was only 17.13%, the fourth lowest record in a democracy, close to the participation record (91.7%) set in the first free elections with universal suffrage held in Portugal, which elected deputies to the Constituent Assembly. 365 days after the “carnation revolution”.
During the nearly five decades of the Second Republic, which emerged after the coup d’état of 28 May 1926 and was divided between the National Dictatorship (1926–1933) and the New State (1933–1974), football “invaded six National Assembly elections”.
The suffrages of 1949, 1953, 1961, 1969, won by the National Union (UN), and 1973 (the only success of Marcello Caetano’s Popular National Action) coexisted with the I League rounds, almost always in full, while the First Stage of the Portuguese Cup “invaded” in 1965, when António de Oliveira Salazar scored his ninth and final triumph in a row.
Porto, Belenenses and Vitória de Guimarães hold the record for the most matches played on legislative Sundays, with nine each, and will be joined on Sunday by Sporting, the only one of the big three undefeated on such occasions circumstances, with five victories. and three draws.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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