The situation the country is going through makes the presidential elections an issue of special relevance in national life.
In the debate about choosing who will assume the responsibility of the Presidency of the Republic, the Constitution is the political element of reference. Not only because of the responsibility that the President of the Republic assumes when taking the oath to “comply with and enforce the constitution”. It is also because, given the political, economic and social situation that the country is experiencing, it is in fulfilling the societal project that the Constitution enshrines that we have the most substantial reference for policies that allow us to overcome the problems and difficulties we are experiencing.
It is not the President of the Republic who governs, that is true. But it is not just the Government and government action that makes up the Portuguese political and institutional system. The powers constitutionally attributed to the President of the Republic do not allow him to be made a decorative figure or his own role a kind of filling verb.
The choice of the President of the Republic is, therefore, not an act without consequence. And it is important to weigh the responsibility of this choice so that what may be considered innocuous does not end up turning into something iniquitous.
It is not indifferent to have in the Presidency of the Republic someone more or less committed to the Constitution and its compliance, more or less committed to a conception of democracy that fully considers its political, economic, social and cultural dimensions.
It is not indifferent to have in the Presidency of the Republic someone more or less committed to the people and their needs, more or less committed to workers and their struggle for better working and living conditions.
It is not indifferent to have in the Presidency of the Republic someone more or less committed to combating inequalities and discrimination, more or less committed to the fight against the unfair distribution of wealth seen from the perspective of those who create it and not those who appropriate it to make a fortune and accumulate social privilege.
All of this may reveal a degree of greater or lesser commitment to that broad project of democracy that the Constitution of the Republic enshrines.
Perhaps it is not surprising that, for most candidates (especially on the right of the political spectrum, but not only), the Constitution does not deserve even a passing reference. Or just refer to it as if it were poison. After all, this Constitution of the Republic continues to constitute an obstacle to those who make inequality and social injustice a source of fortune and power and a hindrance to those who carry out this type of political project.
What would be strange was for anyone who now, as a candidate, disregards the Constitution to later, from the Presidency of the Republic, make it a reference for their practice and political commitment.
Anyone who now, at the time of voting, devalues this disregard for the Constitution, opting for one of the candidates who despise it, will not be able later, seeing their expectations frustrated, to appear surprised by such a consequence.
It is not in the stars that people’s destiny is written when they have a say in how it is constructed. It is in the choices they make when they participate in the choices that are theirs.
This is the right time to choose the Presidency of the Republic. There will be no future regrets that correct choices that are already known today to be bad.
Member of the European Parliament
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