“I want to be demanding with governance. Since I don’t have a party, my only party is Portugal, I want to represent this party and be demanding with governance. Governance is chosen by the people in their elections, but there must be demands on governance,” stated the candidate.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo spoke to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the Loulé market, his first pre-campaign action in the Faro district, where he received both praise and some expressions of discontent.
Expressing regret over the fact that politicians often make “many statements for the news” and then offer “little action on the ground,” he argued that democracy “has to start delivering results” and should be less declarative and more executive.
“I have that tendency, I have always been executive, I know what it means to deliver results. People know me, they know that when I was given a task, I fulfilled that task, not with declarations, but with results,” he noted.
During the visit to the Loulé market, Gouveia e Melo was warmly welcomed by merchants, some of whom expressed their preference for his candidacy in the January 18 elections.
The candidate also heard some complaints, such as those from a florist who at 80 says she still has to work because “everything is very bad,” or another merchant complaining that winter in the Algarve is tough for business.
Asked about the main message he has been receiving, Gouveia e Melo replied that people mainly ask him to help change the current situation in the country, saying he feels that people are longing for change.
“There is a sense of fatigue and widespread disappointment, and people truly want change, but what I believe is that we need to contribute to a change that occurs within the framework of democracy, within democratic institutions, and that is what I propose,” he emphasized.
According to Gouveia e Melo, the habit of “always postponing everything” in Portugal contributes to the discrediting of politics, promising that if elected President of the Republic, he aims to change this mentality.
“People are beginning to think that democracy is nothing but a farce, and that is what we all have to counteract. All politicians, and I am now a politician too, all politicians have to counter this, we need to start delivering results to the population,” he concluded.
