Henrique Gouveia e Melo considers Ramalho Eanes was also “very important” during a phase of democracy, asserting that without Eanes and Soares, the current state of democracy wouldn’t exist.
Regarding Jorge Sampaio, Cavaco Silva, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the admiral believes they “were already a sequence.”
“Perhaps because they are a sequence, I did not give them as much benefit of the doubt. But my model, if I had to choose one, would be Mário Soares. I really admire Dr. Mário Soares,” he emphasized.
Conversely, Henrique Gouveia e Melo distanced himself entirely from the first heads of state of Portuguese democracy, António de Spínola and Costa Gomes, both military figures.
“They entered the presidency through a military coup, or as a result of a military revolution — and I have an absolute difference in relation to that. General Ramalho Eanes himself, when he was first elected, was an active military man, Chief of the Armed Forces, and was in the Council of the Revolution,” he noted.
Following this, he sought to highlight differences concerning his current situation as a candidate in the presidential race.
“I am a civilian; I am very proud of my military past and am not ashamed of anything. On the contrary, I see it as an asset. But I am a civilian with the civic rights of every citizen,” he declared.
In this context, Gouveia e Melo states that the thesis about the dangers of being a military person “bores” him.
“I am not here because a military coup is being staged or because the military, from which I came, told me to go there and stage a coup. The military probably preferred that I stayed there. I am here as a citizen with the same rights, freedoms, and guarantees, and with the same duties as any other citizen,” he stressed.
He also complained about the questions systematically posed to him before formalizing his candidacy for the presidency, questions he perceives as having a form of underlying blackmail.
“They asked me: What are you going to do in the future? Are you going to be a politician? If I said yes, I would have had to leave my functions immediately. If I said no, they wanted that to be marked. That was blackmail they did every day – and I started to say ‘nim.’ And he explained why?
“I did not want to submit to that blackmail. No one has the right to limit the future option of any person because that is not a right demanded in the Constitution or the Portuguese law for any military person,” he added.
In this interview, Gouveia e Melo downplays the polls, pointing out the real one will take place on January 18. He dismisses claims his candidacy has suffered wear over recent months, attributing some decline to the circumstance of there now being presidential candidates “from practically all parties.”
“The fact that a candidate appears for each party faction forces a division of votes. Naturally, I have dropped in the polls more due to this effect than due to any wear,” he argued.
When asked if he fears being left with only the marginal electorate of each main party, the admiral rejects this perspective, arguing that “party loyalty today is not what it was 20 years ago.”
“Parties do not own their areas of ideological influence,” he advocates.
From a political point of view, Henrique Gouveia e Melo states he positions himself at the center and says he won’t change strategy depending on his opponent in a potential second round of the presidential elections.
“There is no specific strategy. I am at the center. Naturally, a right-wing candidate going with me [to the second round] will have to fight the center and the left, because the left will not vote for a right-wing candidate. And a left-wing candidate going with me will have to fight the center and the right. All polls show I win in the second round, even the worst of polls,” he highlighted.
