In the presidential debate between Luís Marques Mendes, supported by PSD and CDS-PP, and António José Seguro, backed by PS, both candidates largely agreed on more issues than they disagreed, while attempting to distinguish themselves from their opponent.
The justice system, specifically the Operation Influencer and the wiretaps involving former socialist Prime Minister António Costa, which were disclosed today, dominated the debate. Seguro expressed “grave concern,” emphasizing that more than two years have passed without any “fact” emerging to justify the Prosecutor General’s statement that Costa was under investigation.
“Two years for a case like this is very serious, and what we are learning, as happened today in the magazine Sábado, are transcripts of wiretaps unrelated to the process or the fact in question,” he criticized, asserting that someone needs to “provide answers.”
For the PS-backed candidate, it is up to the Prosecutor General to provide clarity because António Costa was the Prime Minister, “the country lost a government,” and now faces “instability” while “nobody answers.”
Similarly, Marques Mendes remarked that “justice is ailing,” highlighting the need for a pact in this realm, pledging to initiate such an effort in his first Council of State should he be elected on January 18.
The candidate backed by PSD agreed with his opponent, describing it as “unqualifiable that the Operation Influencer investigation remains unresolved,” and emphasized the need for the Public Prosecutor’s Office to offer explanations.
“There is another absolutely regrettable matter. During the Operation Influencer, 75,000 euros in cash was found hidden in the office of the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. No one has yet provided a complete and definitive explanation,” he criticized.
A topic where the two candidates diverged was the labor legislation reform.
Marques Mendes expressed confusion over “the tendency” Seguro already demonstrated in not accepting this decree if it arrived in Belém in its current form.
“A President of the Republic only pronounces on whether to veto, enact, or send to the Constitutional Court once the final text of the law reaches them. I have enough experience to know that the current document will be nothing, nothing, nothing like the final document,” said the candidate sponsored by PSD and CDS.
Seguro, in turn, questioned the relevance of this reform, arguing that if it were so important, during the campaign, the PSD should have presented it “clearly and transparently” to the Portuguese, which he claimed “they did not,” adding that “it is up to the Government to resolve this issue because it created it.”
