In Braga, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the honorary doctorate awarded to the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste, Marcelo reminded that the budget submission date coincides with the eve of the municipal election day.
“There is a coincidence of dates (…) and it is understandable that each party may express its expectations for the future, but [the government] should avoid doing electoral campaigning about it“, he stated.
Marcelo added that, with this schedule, “the Budget had to be discussed”.
“The Budget entered [the campaign] for a very simple reason: because of the calendar. The scheduling of the elections, in this case, as it was later, coincides with the budget submission“, he further commented.
For the President, Sunday’s municipal elections, in light of the recent legislative elections, will have “an autonomous interpretation,” focused on the strength of various local powers.
“In this case, it is more challenging to have what often occurred in local elections, which was a sort of anticipation or judgment about legislative elections that hadn’t happened yet, and wouldn’t for some time. There were legislative elections recently. Now, the interesting thing is to understand how the powers stand in local governance,” he noted.
The head of state refrained from sharing his perception, emphasizing that the outcome of the municipal elections “is unpredictable.”
