President plans to spend €25 000 on re-election campaign

Portugal’s president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Wednesday presented the budget for his re-election campaign, in which he plans to spend €25,000, without posters, rallies, shows or gifts.

According to the document delivered on Wednesday to the Constitutional Court, most of the spending will be on administrative and operational costs, amounting to €16,000. The candidate estimates to spend €3,500 on advertising, print and digital communication, €1,500 on campaign design, communication agencies and market research.

In terms of revenues, the amount foreseen for the state subsidy is also €25,000 and the budget does not include contributions from political parties or fundraising, but only donations of €1,500.

The campaign for the presidential elections on January 24 will take place between 10 and 22 next month.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a professor of law, former president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and political television commentator, was elected in the first round of the presidential elections on 24 January 2016, with 52% of the votes.

The PSD and the CDS-People’s Party support his reappointment as president.

This budget with the expenditure of €25,000 is 84% less than he presented five years ago when he ran for president in 2016, which included expenditure of €157,000.

According to the accounts submitted after these elections, released by the Constitutional Court on 22 June 2016, De Sousa, who had estimated spending €157,000, presented expenditure of €179,408 and revenue of €224,408, of which €165,488 came from the state subsidy and €45,000 from donations.

One year after his election, on 24 January 2017, the president announced the decision to donate the €45,000 left over from his campaign to a private charity in Cinfães, in the district of Viseu, and to a school in Mogadouro, in the district of Bragança.