Presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes emphasized on Tuesday that “if someone wants to be a candidate [for the Presidency], they should join the race,” remarking that he greets “all candidates” from both the Right and Left with “democratic fair play.”
“I am always very consistent. If someone wants to be a candidate, they should join the race, with pleasure. I greet all the candidates, whether from the Right or the Left, with democratic fair play. In Democracy, everyone is welcome,” he said to journalists in Aveiro when asked about the potential candidacies of Rui Moreira and João Cotrim de Figueiredo for Belém.
He added, “For me, there is no objection. If someone wants to be, believes they can be useful to the country, has a thought, a project, everyone is welcome. It’s the democratic game. I have no complaint.”
“There are two things to keep in mind: the first is that whoever wants to be a candidate should make the decision. It’s not usually an easy decision, but make a decision. I greet them all. I have always done so, with democratic fair play and with the awareness that this enriches democracy. They are welcome,” he emphasized.
Marques Mendes further stated he would not critique or attack anyone who wants to be a candidate, saying “it’s exactly the opposite.”
When asked about Rui Moreira having said months ago that he was not suited for the position, Luís Marques Mendes replied, “Do you want me to criticize Rui Moreira? I will not do that. I am not here to run a negative campaign. I salute all the candidates.”
“I want to be President of the Republic, and a President of the Republic should exist to unite, to gather. Not to divide and not to make personal attacks here,” he highlighted.
He reiterated, “Whoever wants to be a candidate, quite frankly, join the race. I salute and greet everyone; they are all welcome.”
“This survey is very encouraging. It is very positive”
Regarding the polls showing a “near tie” between Marques Mendes and Admiral Gouveia e Melo, António José Seguro, the former PSD leader emphasized: “There are always many candidates in presidential elections, and then the Portuguese make their judgment.”
“Polls are polls. Some good, some bad, some better, some worse. This poll, for me, is very encouraging. It is very positive. It’s hard to have an even more encouraging poll,” he said.
He noted these results show that the contacts made with the Portuguese over the past few months were worthwhile, reminding that when he announced his candidacy five months ago, the difference given by the polls for candidate Gouveia e Melo was 20 points in his favor.
“There were many people who even said that my candidacy would be madness, that the election was won and decided. Now, according to this poll, we are in a tie. It’s a difference of three points. And in the second round, the difference between me and Gouveia e Melo is 0.8%,” he highlighted.
What do the latest polls say?
It is noteworthy that in the recent Intercampus survey for Correio da Manhã, CMTV, and Jornal de Negócios, Admiral Gouveia e Melo appears in a “near-technical tie” with Luís Marques Mendes and António José Seguro.
Although he continues to lead the voting intentions of the Portuguese for the 2026 Presidential elections, the former Chief of Staff of the Navy dropped 6.7 percentage points compared to the June survey, where he gathered 27.3% of the voting intentions. In July, 20.6% of Portuguese respondents admitted they would vote for Henrique Gouveia e Melo. Notably, in March, the admiral was the population’s favorite, with 35.6% of the voting intentions.
Luís Marques Mendes also fell from June to July, with a decrease of 1.3 percentage points in voting intentions. If in June he was the choice of 18.5% of Portuguese, this month only 17.2% would bet on the social-democrat.
António José Seguro, on the other hand, jumped from 11%, in June, to 16.5%, representing a rise of 5.5 percentage points. Negócios even noted that the socialist was the one who rose most in voting intentions in July, after having registered less than 5% when he announced his run for Belém.
Since the margin of error for this survey is 4%, the three candidates are within a tenth of a technical tie. It is the closest scenario since studies on voting intentions for the presidential elections have been conducted.
Despite continuing to be the favorite among the Portuguese in the presidential elections, Gouveia and Melo ‘sank’ in the voting intentions, being “almost in a technical tie” with Marques Mendes and Seguro. In a possible second round, there are also various scenarios of technical ties.
Daniela Filipe | 23:48 – 21/07/2025
