Legislative elections: Marcelo calls for voting and reminds that there can be no elections in the next 12 months

Speaking to journalists after voting early at the Vila Real de Santo António Council (VRSA), the President of the Republic stressed that new elections cannot be held in the six months following the calling of legislative elections, as is the case during the final six months of the presidential term.

According to the President of the Republic, this means that only at the end of spring, beginning of summer next year, if necessary, could there be new elections, which, he stressed, he hopes will not happen, appealing to the Portuguese to abandon the idea of ​​correcting tomorrow what they do today.

“My appeal is for you to vote. Vote for a very simple reason. The world is as it is, it is not easy, it is more difficult than a year ago and on the other hand there cannot be elections next year,” he declared.

The Portuguese head of state voted early today at the Vila Real de Santo António City Council, in the district of Faro, where 925 voters were registered, having arrived at the location at 10:45 am and voted at 11:30 am.

While waiting in line to vote, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke to people who were also waiting their turn, explaining that he requested early voting so he could go to the Vatican for the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate, scheduled for May 18, the day of early legislative elections in Portugal.

The President of the Republic expressed his satisfaction with the number of people who voted today in Vila Real de Santo António and said he considered this to be a sign that there could be less abstention.

“I must say that I am very impressed by the number of voters, both in general and here in particular. I never thought there would be so many people to vote,” he said.

Asked whether he is concerned about abstention, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argued that the high number of people who registered to vote in advance is a sign that people want to vote.

«Having increased [early voting], people also know more, they are more familiar with it, they know that it is a way of preventing anything from happening on election day, but I think it is a sign that could mean, for those who vote in national territory […], I think that here, in principle, it could happen as it did a year ago when young people were the surprise and caused abstention to fall», he stressed.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also praised the way in which the electoral campaign has been carried out, which he considers to have been going very well.

“It went very well, there are no public order problems, there is no insecurity, there are occasional issues, but nothing exceptionally serious, and on the other hand, there is a huge concern from the parties in the televised debates and now, in the electoral campaign, to explain everything” to the voters, he concluded.