Henrique Gouveia e Melo addressed journalists after presenting the political manifesto for his candidacy during a session held at ISCTE in Lisbon.
When asked about his interpretation of the recent local election results on Sunday, the former chief of the Navy expressed his concern about the political center. “I believe that the larger the political center, the more balanced the country is. What I saw [on Sunday] was a country returning to the center, and that makes me happy,” he stated.
In further defense of the so-called political center in Portugal, Henrique Gouveia e Melo warned that if the choices are between “very extreme solutions, a lot of energy is wasted, and the country does not advance over time.”
“I think the solutions have to be made in the center, but the center must know how to attract the electorate with concrete proposals and results,” he maintained.
When questioned about the formal support the PS is preparing to give to its former leader António José Seguro in the presidential elections, Henrique Gouveia e Melo commented that “all support from different political sectors naturally changes the polls.”
When asked if the lack of party support benefits him, he replied, “I am not running as if it were second legislative elections. And what I am seeing is that they want to make second legislative elections for the presidential ones.”
