“If there is to be a convergence towards a candidacy on the left, I believe that this convergence should be centered around my candidacy and not, with all due respect, around António José Seguro’s candidacy,” stated António Filipe in an interview.
When asked if he fears his candidacy might cause a dispersion of votes preventing a left-wing candidate from reaching the second round of presidential elections, António Filipe responded, “But I am the left-wing candidate.”
“If the goal is withdrawals in favor of a left-wing candidate, I ask: who is the other candidate? Because, I have a lot of respect for Dr. António José Seguro, whom I have been friends with for many years, but I do not consider that he holds a left-wing position,” he asserted.
António Filipe argued that based on Seguro’s various political stances throughout his life, he is “closer to the position” of Luís Marques Mendes than his own.
“Therefore, I do not understand why I am being urged to withdraw in favor of another candidacy that I do not consider to be a left-wing candidacy. The fact that he was leader of the PS, I believe, holds him significantly responsible, due to his political stance, for the state of discontent in which the country finds itself,” he stated.
Regarding Catarina Martins, António Filipe expressed “great respect” for her candidacy and admitted to having more “convergences than divergences” with the former BE coordinator, yet he highlighted a “fundamental difference.”
“My candidacy was presented independently of any other possible candidacies,” he remarked, emphasizing that “it is public knowledge that Catarina Martins declared her candidacy because Professor Sampaio da Nóvoa did not advance with his.”
“When I launched my candidacy and when I maintain it, I do so independently of any other candidate. In other words, I am not a second choice. I am a first option as I believe I have the conditions to lead a candidacy that stands on its own,” he said.
Asked whether he suggests António José Seguro and Catarina Martins should withdraw their candidacies in favor of his own, António Filipe remarked on the new trend, “when someone thinks that the candidate they support is not going to make it, they appeal for others to withdraw.”
“I do not recall witnessing situations like this, where it is proposed that a candidate can only win if the others step down. Jokingly, I could say that if everyone withdraws, I would win in the first round,” he joked.
Regarding his decision to run for the Presidency of the Republic, António Filipe mentioned he made that decision out of “great concern” from various left-wing citizens due to the lack of “any candidate in whom they could see themselves.”
“All the candidates presented were those with significant responsibility for the state to which the country has come. None of them offered any assurance of anything but more of the same,” he stated.
Asked if he was referring to António José Seguro, Luís Marques Mendes, and Henrique Gouveia e Melo, António Filipe confirmed, emphasizing that “they are candidates from the political families that have dominated, in recent decades, the functioning of Portuguese democracy.”
“And I think people demand something different. There is a demand today, given the existing dissatisfaction in the country, for a civic awakening, that this is not an inevitability, and that the situation of the people can and should improve,” he mentioned.
