One week before elections two main parties convinced of victory

The final week of campaigning for the legislative elections kicked off on Monday with the two main political forces convinced of victory, but also with reactions to the suspicions raised by the leader of right-wing Chega about the electoral process.

In Chaves, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, PSD, said that “an unequivocal victory for the Christian Democratic Alliance, DA, is underway”, but, when asked if he intends to ask voters for an absolute majority, he replied that he “won’t ask for a majority at all” and will fight for as many votes as possible.

“A political change is indeed underway in Portugal, an unequivocal victory for DA is indeed underway next Sunday,” said Luís Montenegro, warning, however, that the “enthusiasm of the street must be transported” to the polling stations.

The secretary general of the Socialist Party, PS, meanwhile, dramatised what is at stake in the early elections, considering that the only way to stop “the right’s return to power” is by concentrating votes on the Socialists.

In Afurada, in the district of Gaia, Pedro Nuno Santos addressed the hundreds of people listening to him in the street to thank them for their “strength” and to emphasise that the PS is “on the road to victory to build a country for all”.

Seven days before the elections, the leader of the Liberal Initiative, Rui Rocha, went to São João da Madeira, home of the leader of the PS, to emphasise that this is the moment for the Portuguese to choose between the past and the future, stressing that his party “is here to change Portugal for real”.

In a campaign initiative near the hospital in Santo Tirso, Communist Party, PCP, general secretary Paulo Raimundo also took the opportunity to dramatise the vote in the legislative elections between those who want to dismantle and those who want to save the National Health Service (NHS), assuring that only the CDU guarantees public healthcare.

Entering the final stretch of the campaign, Livre’s spokesman, Rui Tavares, called for “cold blood” in the remaining days until the elections, after the incident on Sunday at a rally organised by the Socialist candidate.

People-Animals-Nature, PAN, spokeswoman Inês de Sousa Real accused Chega of irresponsibility and of adopting electoral strategies identical to those of Donald Trump in the United States, after André Ventura claimed that votes could be cancelled for his party.

On Sunday, the president of Chega reiterated his suspicions about the possibility of the deliberate cancellation of party votes in the legislative elections and called for the National Electoral Commission (CNE) to investigate.

Left Bloc, BE, leader Mariana Mortágua called Ventura an “apprentice of Bolsonaro”, accusing him of casting “suspicion on democratic processes” without any kind of “problem or modesty”.

In the meantime, the CNE is going to analyse the suspicions raised by the leader of Chega about the possibility of purposeful annulment of votes for the party in the legislative elections.

“We’re going to analyse this matter and then, depending on the information available and the facts we have, we’ll consider [opening an investigation], but it hasn’t been assessed yet,” CNE spokesman Fernando Anastácio told Lusa.

At a rally in Santarém today, the leader of Chega once again called for the introduction of life imprisonment in the Penal Code, considering that suspended sentences for crimes such as terrorism, rape or murder should end.

More than 10.8 million Portuguese are expected to vote on Sunday to elect 230 deputies to the Portuguese Parliament.

Eighteen political forces, 15 parties and three coalitions are running in these elections.