Afonso Camões resigned from his position as representative of Henrique Gouveia e Melo’s presidential candidacy, following news this Monday from the Morning Mailwhich recalls that the former president of Lusa was caught on wiretaps discussing with José Sócrates his appointment to the position of director of the News Journal.
The announcement was made this Tuesday, November 2, by Camões on his own social networks, justifying that he is abandoning his role because “a chronicler and a newspaper decided to unearth an illegitimate telephone tap that was more than 10 years old” and so as not to harm Gouveia e Melo’s candidacy. At issue, he says, is a “youth connection to the former prime minister” José Sócrates.
“They don’t affect me. The Career of Excellence Award, which was awarded to me a year ago by the Portuguese Press Association, reveals the mark of my professional footprint. But the intention is clear: they want to harm Mr. Admiral’s candidacy in favor of his well-identified candidates, one of which, in fact, was created and supported by the newspaper’s television station that echoes the insult, vegetating in the gutter”he stated.
“For this reason, and because I do not accept that the invocation of my name or my unconditional support for the Admiral’s candidacy serve as a pretext to hinder his path, I declare with immediate effect my resignation from the status of District Representative, which I honorably accepted at your Excellency’s invitation”he continued.