During a meeting on Saturday with Portugal’s ambassador to Germany, Madalena Fischer, three out of four community advisors expressed concern about the exclusive offering of in-person voting, which they believe affects election outcomes.
“It’s almost always the same people who vote. For example, from Guterslöh, where many Portuguese live, to Dusseldorf, the nearest consulate, it’s almost a two-hour journey. People need to be very motivated, which often doesn’t happen,” Manuel Machado stated to the Lusa news agency.
The advisor noted there is no interest from the Government or political parties to expand voting options, such as setting up additional polling stations or enabling electronic voting.
“It requires each polling station to have a computer, specific software, and staff, and all that costs money. The ambassador and consuls don’t make these decisions, they just enforce the laws, but we see that the Government and parties have no interest in changing the law,” he said after the meeting in Berlin.
“I proposed an amendment to the electoral law suggesting uniformized elections with electronic, in-person, and postal voting. Or at least, that postal votes be sent to embassies and consulates to allow an immediate count and then sent to Lisbon,” he added.
Only two parties responded, but no action was taken.
“We don’t have enough influence in the Assembly of the Republic. As long as we only have four deputies representing the emigration circles, there’s not much we can do,” he lamented.
Manuel Machado also expressed concern about the possibility of ballots not arriving in time for a runoff, if one occurs, given there are only two weeks between the rounds. He was told that, in such a case, ballots from the first round would be used.
“It could lead to some distrust because the same names will appear, but there are only two candidates. It’s important to inform people. We risk having many invalid votes. No matter how much we try to convince people that there was no other solution, it will create some anger,” he explained.
For the community advisor in Germany, the government should make a greater effort to motivate Portuguese citizens living abroad to vote.
“Some minor laws could be changed, which wouldn’t significantly impact the budget, like taxes or support upon returning to Portugal. Giving us more deputies in the Assembly of the Republic to represent us. But the real issue is the voting model, it’s inadequate. We have countries where people need to travel hours by plane to vote. It makes no sense,” he admitted.
