“With me as President, Chega will never be in government. My fight is one for political culture, to win majorities in the name of decency and democracy. If this path is successful, there will not be a country that grants Chega such power,” stated former coordinator of the Left Bloc (BE), Catarina Martins, in an interview.
When asked what she would do as President in a scenario where Chega wins the legislative elections, Catarina Martins expressed confidence that “there will always be solutions that involve democracy and decency.”
“What I tell you is: the same country that empowers my candidacy, that can elect me as President, that can make this political space strong, is the same country that will never allow Chega to wield such power,” she emphasized.
The candidate for Belém stated her “very literal understanding of the Constitution of the Republic,” asserting that “the government is formed by those who have a majority.”
“As far as I am concerned, majorities will never be formed in a democracy with those who do not respect democracy. Respecting the Constitution is also key: never can a party that does not intend to comply with the Constitution, that repeatedly declares its intention to subvert the Portuguese Constitution, be part of a government or a majority government,” she added.
For Catarina Martins, her candidacy and potential outcome “is the greatest strength available to stop any such scenario.”
In an interview where she refrained from setting concrete electoral goals, declaring her aim “is to prevent this presidential campaign from being the burial of democracy in Portugal,” the former BE leader dismissed a race “pre-decided from the outset.”
Separating herself from the current President, Catarina Martins criticized Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa for having dissolved the parliament several times due to budget rejections and stated she would not do the same if elected.
“I am inspired by solutions commonly seen in Europe, promoting new negotiations to reach agreements. Continuous negotiation, which respects the parliamentary framework resulting from elections, is very important,” she highlighted.
Regarding whether she would admit to dissolving parliament in the case that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro faces criminal inquiry related to the Spinumviva company, Catarina Martins argued that an executive leader “under strong suspicion has no conditions” to remain in office, although she respects the presumption of innocence.
However, according to the former BE leader, “the first step” should always be to seek alternatives to dissolving parliament.
“When the President introduced this characteristic by dissolving parliament when there was no agreement on the State Budget, what he was saying is that the party in government, instead of being obliged to negotiate and reach agreements, can simply leverage election threats, victimizing itself and trying for an absolute majority,” she criticized.
Catarina Martins also found it unacceptable that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “does not have the capacity to say anything about what is happening in the National Health Service and the actions of the health minister” – the head of state has postponed a declaration on the matter – instead of commenting on “all the cases and absurdities that pass through the Assembly of the Republic.”
Asked about the priorities of a potential mandate, the MEP advocated for the need to initiate “a process of refounding the National Health Service,” with public and universal access, and where pregnant women do not fear “when it is time to give birth.”
Catarina Martins intends to pressure the government to act in this field, using “the magistracy of influence,” which “is not about defending one party against another” but “defending the Portuguese people.”
