The PS and PSD currently share two seats in European and non-European constituencies respectively, with Chega winning the other two seats after results showed massive voting for the party in Switzerland.
Paulo Pisco, head of the European Circle’s PS list, has now collected enough votes to be re-elected.
Asked about the current results of the Portuguese exiles in the March 10 legislative elections, which resulted in the removal of Augusto Santos Silva (PS) from Parliament, Pisco said that the PS “will have to make a lot of efforts to win back two deputies, which she has now lost.” .
“We must understand the reasons that led to this result and work in some countries where the vote was not in our favor,” he told Lusa.
And he added: “The PS is participating in these elections very fiercely, very honestly, and there was a balance between the different forces. Chega’s victory is based on the more than 40% of the vote she receives in just one country. This is Switzerland.”
“This is a strange and anomalous result, but we must understand the reasons for this result, and if there is something that needs to be clarified with voters in Switzerland, we must understand it,” he continued.
Social Democrat José Cesário, who awaits confirmation of his election from the Beyond Europe circle at 7 p.m., expressed regret that his party could not return the deputy lost two years ago in the Europe circle.
Regarding the growth of Chegi, especially in Switzerland, he stated that “the socialist political power has completely neglected its relations with communities throughout the world. In Switzerland this is more obvious because emigrants in Switzerland are the ones who contribute the most to the country’s economy in terms of per capita income.” On a per-person basis, those who send the most remittances to Portugal make an impressive contribution to tourism and real estate.”
These Portuguese “have no answer to their problems, they are ignored in health centers, in finance, in many public services, even in municipal councils and especially in consulates, and they have decided to throw their fist at the table. free choice, I wish they had something different, but I completely understand their behavior and the voting decision they made.”
José Cesario said his goal and fight will be “as usual”: “Improving services for the people, giving more rights to Portuguese people outside Portugal, making government work faster, giving people more access to culture, education, teaching Portuguese language to your children.”
Carlos Gonçalves (PSD) failed to be elected to the European circle and for now welcomes “an increase in the voices of the Portuguese communities.” Gonçalves interpreted the election of the two Chega deputies (Europe and Beyond Europe) as a “vote of protest” and a “sense of rebellion”.
Finding his harsh expression strange in Switzerland, the Social Democrat believed that “it is necessary to know the reasons that make this community experience a greater sense of rebellion and protest than others.”
Manuel Magno, head of the Chegi list from the Fora da Europa circle, whose election the results so far indicate, said he always expected this.
“The huge requirement that we have to address is the situation of communities outside of Europe, outside of Portugal. I live in the diaspora, I work in the diaspora, I know the daily life of communities and they have always been treated as if we were second class. No, we,” he told Lusa.
Magno said he intends to give Portuguese communities the respect they deserve. For his part, the Paris-based director of the Chega Pela Europa list, José Díaz Fernández, expressed satisfaction with the results that have so far elected him in the European circle, considering it a “normal” result, taking into account what he found during the campaign “on the ground” “
He told Lusa by phone that the votes Chega had secured in Europe, mainly in Switzerland, were a protest against the way his party had been treated “negatively” by the media.
“We were already waiting for this result. We were in place for a long time, in our homes,” he said.
The counting of the votes of Portuguese emigrants who made their choice by mail ends this Wednesday, revealing four MPs from European and non-European circles.
The counting and registration of these votes from Portuguese residents living abroad has been taking place at the Lisbon Congress Center since Monday, the day when more than 140 thousand votes were counted.
On Tuesday, another 117 thousand were recorded. Votes received by mail by 17:00 this Wednesday will be carefully checked and recorded, work will continue until 19:00.
Since February 4, more than 1.5 million letters with voting forms have been sent to 189 destinations, and on February 20, votes began arriving in Portugal.
5,283 voters took advantage of the opportunity to vote in person.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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