The candidate for the Presidency of the Republic Gouveia e Melo defended this Sunday, December 28th, that State affairs cannot be dependent on electoral campaigns and said that if he were an advisor and candidate he would have asked to be replaced.
“State affairs cannot wait for electoral campaigns. The question we have to ask is why one of our candidates, who is a State councilor, did not ask the President of the Republic to be replaced when he ran”, stated Henrique Gouveia e Melo.
Gouveia e Melo was referring to Marques Mendes, and Chega’s leader, André Ventura, is also a State Councilor, who is also a candidate for the presidential elections. January 18th.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, convened the State Council for January 9, ten days before the presidential elections.
Asked about the date, Gouveia e Melo, who was speaking in Angra do Heroísmo, on the sidelines of a visit to the Vinha Brava Agricultural Fair, on the island of Terceira, in the Azores, did not raise any objections, but considered that it did not make sense for one of the candidates to continue to be a State councilor.
“Not only because he has access to privileged information, but he is in a state role that is not compatible with being a candidate”, declared.
“If it were me, I would have asked the President of the Republic to leave the Council of State as soon as I had run for office. That didn’t happen, I think it’s bad, that’s my opinion, but it’s Dr. Luís Marques Mendes who will have to think about whether being a State councilor and being a candidate at the same time is a good or bad thing”, he pointed out.
With the Azores under yellow warning due to rain, Gouveia e Melo arrived at the Vinha Brava Agricultural Fair an hour late, justified by the late arrival of the plane from São Miguel.
He greeted traders and customers and received support from a former combatant in Angola.
“You have three votes in my house”, he assured.
Among stories of combat and losses, he also heard laments about the way ex-combatants are treated.
“We should receive a subsidy under the Government’s conditions and they give us a pittance. It doesn’t even reach 100 euros. It’s not right,” he said.
The candidate agreed and reinforced that “former combatants have been mistreated for a long time”.
One week before the official start of the presidential campaign, Gouveia e Melo said he wants to “privilege street contacts” to make himself known beyond the way he is “painted on television”.
“I didn’t have the experience that others had, but I did the debates trying to get the message across. But I like this more, being with people”, he said.
In the Azores for the second time during the pre-campaign, Gouveia e Melo was asked about the impasse in the transfer of funds from the Government of the Republic to update the cooperation agreements with IPSS and Misericórdias, which caused delays in the payment of Christmas subsidies in some institutions.
“It is regrettable that this type of situation happens. We have answers for the elderly that are far below our needs. There are many hospital beds that are occupied as social beds, because we do not have answers for the elderly. I think that the executive branch must pay a lot of attention to this area”, he stressed.
Asked about the possible extinction of the position of representative of the Republic in the autonomous regions, the candidate referred the decision to the Assembly of the Republic.
“It’s a discussion that has been going on for a long time. The question we have to ask is: has it brought any harm or created any disturbance to relations between the continent and the archipelagos? I don’t think so”he added.
The candidate will visit a nursing home in Praia da Vitória on this day and has a street action scheduled in Angra do Heroísmo, remaining on the island of Terceira until Monday.
In the current legislature, the Assembly of the Republic, after more than six months, has not yet elected the five members it is responsible for appointing to the Council of State.
Under the terms of the Constitution, the councilors elected by parliament, in each legislature, remain in office until those who replace them take office. Thus, Carlos Moedas (PSD), Pedro Nuno Santos and Carlos César (PS) and André Ventura continue to represent parliament – all elected in 2024.
The founder of the PSD and former prime minister, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, who died on October 21, was also part of this body.
Among the members of the State Council appointed by Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, there is Luís Marques Mendes, the former minister and current vice-president of the PSD Leonor Beleza, the writer Lídia Jorge, the conductor Joana Carneiro and the former CDS leader António Lobo Xavier.
Members of the Council of State are inherently the holders of the positions of president of the Assembly of the Republic, prime minister, president of the Constitutional Court, ombudsman, presidents of regional governments and former presidents of the Republic.