After spending the morning in the Setúbal district, Tavares moved to Lisbon for the party’s traditional “pedalada,” a bike ride through the Areeiro, Alvalade, and Avenidas Novas parishes.
In these three parishes, the head candidates of the “Viver Lisboa” coalition, which brings together PS, Livre, BE, and PAN in support of Alexandra Leitão for the municipal council, are from Livre: Joana Alves Pereira in Areeiro, Francisco Costa in Alvalade, and Laura Cassandra in Avenidas Novas.
Rui Tavares was questioned about whether Livre might be too dependent on PS to achieve favorable results on Sunday night, given that their main bets are in municipalities where three former socialist ministers—Alexandra Leitão, Ana Mendes Godinho (Sintra), and Ana Abrunhosa (Coimbra)—are lead candidates.
“I never feared such a thing, nor will I. These are part of those political myths I’ve heard about for many years, and Livre was created to demonstrate they are paper tigers. «Oh, don’t team up with bigger parties because they’ll give you a bear hug». Livre has been in coalitions before, and in fact, it even began its journey back to parliament in this way and has grown,” he argued.
Tavares also dismissed contradictions regarding calls for strategic voting, advocating instead for a “responsible vote.”
“Livre has never been afraid to discuss strategic voting because we feel comfortable talking about it. When we are in a coalition, we know the responsible vote—not so much the strategic vote, but the responsible vote—is in the coalition where we placed the quality seal, having the poppy on the ballot paper,” he emphasized.
The deputy highlighted that voters can distinguish realities and understand when Livre opted for coalitions or decided to go independently.
“I am not afraid of bear hugs or strategic voting because when we make decisions with a sense of responsibility, our fellow citizens understand this very well,” he noted.
Tavares also stated that Sintra, Coimbra, and Lisbon are municipalities the party aims to win, urging the left to mobilize again after the last legislative elections.
“Our role is not to be hunkered down, not to live permanently on May 18th of this year; these are different elections, it’s necessary to turn things around, and we want people to see that Livre is decisive in turning things around,” he stated.
Before heading to Lisbon, Livre’s spokesperson Rui Tavares visited Montijo with the candidate for the council Alexandra Nascimento and in Setúbal to support another autonomous candidacy of the party, led by André Dias.
In Setúbal, Tavares urged the Portuguese to vote for “good people” and those “you’d like to have as neighbors,” appealing for those feeling frustrated not to channel their votes toward parties like Chega.
“When, on the 12th, we elect mayors, let’s try to elect people who are the type of individuals we’d like to have as neighbors, those who come to solve a problem, those who give voice and bring a good solution,” he appealed.
