The vote takes place this Sunday and is an originality at the party level. Three individual candidates and a duo of different genders are running for the head of the Volt Portugal list for the European Parliament next Sunday, May 28th, at the Hotel Roma, in Lisbon.
Starting at 10am, the candidates will have the opportunity to present their proposals and debate the issues with voters. Afterwards, the polls will open for voting.
The most voted will represent the European party in Portugal in the European Parliament elections in June 2024. Volt currently has one German MEP in Brussels.
“This direct election demonstrates Volt’s internal democracy at work. All Volters will choose who will represent us in the 2024 European Elections, which are Volt’s big stage as a European party. And on the 28th we will choose who the voters can vote for in June next year,” says Ana Carvalho, co-chair of Volt Portugal.
Meet the candidates to represent Volt Portugal at the European Championships:
- Daniel Gaio, 24, Junior International Manager and specialist in international relations and international economics;
- Duarte Costa, 34, climate change specialist and co-chair of Volt Portugal; and Rhia Lopes, 26, parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament (Greens/European Free Alliance);
- Manfred Niehus, 52, teacher and researcher;
- Mateus Carvalho, 24, digital marketing professional.
Volt is a pan-European party, present in 31 countries, recognized as a party in 18 of them, has over 100 elected mandates at all levels of administration and around 20,000 members across the continent.
It is progressive and was created as a movement in March 2017 in reaction to Brexit, populisms, extremism, skepticism about the European Union, and nationalisms.
It is a pragmatic party, grounding its proposals in scientific evidence and good practice. Its policies are developed by the party’s grassroots and are positioned in a liberal, social and environmentalist spectrum. In Portugal, it emerged in December 2017 and was formalized in 2020.