Jorge Pinto, a deputy elected by Livre, announced his candidacy for Belém on Saturday, and on Sunday, he defended that he remained “faithful to his principles” until the “25th hour” and, in the absence of a “unifying candidacy” on the Left, he entered the race.
“I am option A, not option B. I was very faithful to my principles. For months, I said I wanted a unifying candidacy on the Left, so that the Left could return to power. It wasn’t the plan A; it was the plan that the Left and the country needed,” he said in an interview with CNN Portugal.
We’re not in the Finance office, where whoever takes a ticket is attended to first.
Faced with the absence of this “unifying” candidacy, the deputy elected by the Porto circle proceeded, with 67% of Livre militants responding that the party should support this deputy’s candidacy.
Livre officially supported today the presidential candidacy of deputy Jorge Pinto, following a non-binding internal consultation in which the leader obtained 67% of the militants’ votes.
Lusa | 12:22 – 01/11/2025
The party also asked which candidacy from another political area Livre should support, with the former leader of the Socialist Party (PS) António José Seguro being the most voted name, but 66.2% of militants chose not to indicate any other name. Confronted with these results, he was also questioned about a possible rejection of this candidacy, which the PS “had to support” due to some pressure, he argues.
“Just because he was the first to announce his candidacy doesn’t give him priority over anything. In fact, he even had plenty of time to convince the other parties that he could be the candidate to unite the Left. I think it’s evident today that he didn’t manage to do that,” he responded, after having already said at the beginning of the interview: “We’re not in a Finance office, where whoever takes the first ticket is attended first.”
Regarding Seguro, Jorge Pinto considered: “I think it’s evident that someone who asks, in parallel, for the Left to unite around him and in the same week says he doesn’t want to be placed in a drawer or considered Left is contradictory. These two visions cannot coexist. I want to be very clear, I will not hide what I am. The Left is not, nor will it ever be, a drawer; it’s a window that opens us to the world. And I am, proudly, from the democratic Left.”
After Seguro, the “plastic” candidacy and the “plan B”
Facing a potential lack of support from the party, Jorge Pinto said that a ‘high’ percentage regarding support does not happen in many other parties (not just referring to the PS). “Who is the plan B is, for example, João Cotrim Figueiredo, who was literally the 2nd candidate announced by the Liberal Initiative as a presidential candidate. He, yes, can be the plan B. Good or bad, that’s not the point,” he argued, referring to Mariana Leitão’s announcement for Belém, who was then elected to lead the party and withdrew from the race: “There was an announced candidacy […], João Cotrim Figueiredo appears afterwards. That’s a plan B.”
“I have 2/3 of my party saying they want me to be a candidate: Does anyone think that’s a percentage?” he questioned, stating that Livre is the “fastest-growing party on the Left.”
“I come to this election because I’m very tired of going along with any bizarre idea that arises in another presidential candidate’s head and that will mark the political day,” he said, after talking about the far-right.
“Livre, or I myself, don’t need to ask anyone’s permission to exist and do its politics. I am not the child of a lesser god. I have the same right to be a candidate as any other candidate from the Left or Right,” he stated when asked about Left convergences, something he considers “very important.”
As for the possibility of not uniting the Left, but rather segregating this political field and indirectly boosting a potential second round with far-right forces, he said: “I don’t think it will divide. I think I will add. There is a good part of the electorate that didn’t know who to vote for and didn’t see themselves in any of the candidacies. And who might possibly vote on the Right or in a more plastic candidacy, so to speak, of [Henrique] Gouveia e Melo. With my candidacy, I want to speak to those people.”
Jorge Pinto spoke not only about individual candidacies but also in general. Emphasizing that “he was ambitious,” the candidate recalled the statements that have recently been made by adversaries. “My goal is to be the strongest Left candidacy that can advance to the second round. I think I am the one who most wants to advance to the 2nd round and be President of the Republic. I see some candidates who seem to be marking positions, others who want media attention and visibility. I am here to set the agenda because I have been thinking about Republic issues for a long time.”
The ‘move’ (and Marcelo’s “failure”)
Jorge Pinto was also asked if he would take the campaign to the end or if the possibility of supporting another candidacy existed. Reminded that he presented his only yesterday and that it would be “strange” to say 24 hours later that he would give up, he assured: “I will not give unequivocal answers.”
This was another opportunity, after ‘attacks’ on adversaries, to address those who occupy the position for which he wants to be elected. “I think one of the big mistakes and failures of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as President of the Republic was making too many categorical statements, which later caught up with him and forced him to act in a way he might not have wanted to. What I say, very clearly, is that I will bring a republican pact to the country, analyzed by the other candidacies.”
Not putting himself – for now – “out of the game,” Jorge Pinto has the move or tactical scheme assembled. “Any question of convergence or withdrawal must comply with two absolutely mandatory conditions: the first is that it must be for an openly Left candidacy, and the second, which seems evident to me, is that on the other side there is the same commitment,” that is: “If other candidates would be willing to withdraw, to converge with me.”
