At a book presentation session for “Francisco Sá Carneiro: Solidão e Poder” by Maria João Avillez at the Assembleia da República, attended by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes, and former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho, Cotrim Figueiredo dismissed claims of trying to attract PSD voters.
“I don’t need to wink at the PSD electorate; they gravitate towards me naturally. The PSD-backed candidate only receives half the voting intentions that the AD had a few months ago. So, the other half must go somewhere,” he stated shortly after greeting Marques Mendes before speaking to the journalists.
When asked if his attendance aimed to capture votes from that other half he mentioned, Cotrim reiterated: “I don’t come to seek them; they come naturally.”
“Again, I say: I don’t need to wink,” he added.
Cotrim Figueiredo, supported by IL, noted that initially he did not plan to attend the session due to a scheduled television debate against António José Seguro, which was canceled for health reasons involving the former PS secretary-general.
“So, I ended up having the schedule to be here, and the significance is that I appreciate Maria João Avilez’s work and Francisco Sá Carneiro’s political career, a man who marked my youth with his notably reformist character,” he said, in a session where IL leader Mariana Leitão was also present.
In recent weeks, the campaigns of Luís Marques Mendes and João Cotrim Figueiredo have exchanged mutual criticisms after the former IL leader claimed in an Expresso interview that he was pressured by supporters of Marques Mendes’s candidacy to withdraw from the race for Belém.
In response to this, Marques Mendes accused Cotrim Figueiredo of dishonesty, indignity, and “using the worst tricks of traditional politics,” denying any pressure from himself or his campaign on the former IL president.
