The day when the largest majority became appeal to the useful vote

Electoral campaigns are a hard exercise for politicians and media. There are few hours of sleep, many thousands of kilometers traveled, almost always at the end of days in constant street contacts and rallies.

When AD’s electoral caravan arrived on Tuesday morning at Lezíria Ribatejana, to visit a rice plantation, the mood leaves no doubt, in the caravan and between the media, they are all counting the days to the end. It is natural that the second week the protagonists feel some accumulated tiredness, but this time it is different, the feeling of Déja Vu and uselessness to repeat a movie already seen dominates conversations.

At the Encalce of the arrival agenda
The program of the day was not designed for image reporters, nor for the multitude baths. This was the program for the next day. In Ribatejo, Montenegro wanted to show that he is responding to the concerns of arrival voters, many of them voters in Santarém district, where AD’s list head is a stranger, but is also the Minister of Education. After a demonstration of the technologies used for rice planting, Montenegro and the whole entourage were the guests of honor of a lunch that allowed to « escape the baked meat and have another more varied and more pleasant menu, » said the prime minister. But the best menu came in the words of Carlos Travassos, the neurosurgeon who is simultaneously farmer and that in this quality announced to those present farmers with AD, because with this government « we have passed the dark age in the agricultural sector. »

Such a declared support in the middle of the election campaign is not common and AD’s leader did not let him go unnoticed, promising more commitment to support the sector, simplifying processes and bureaucracy.
The next step in the campaign program followed the blinking script to the arrival of the arrival. In Torres Novas the visit to the police school was reserved for the campaign entourage, away from the journalists’ eyes. Unlike farmers, PSP did not want to be instrumentalized for electoral purposes. Perhaps it was not, with images and speeches of agents alongside the candidate, but the visit perfectly served so that the exit Montenegro could have made the speech that interested him in an attempt to get « a major majority ».

At the end of more than an hour of visit, the candidate defaulted the planned arguments. « We are committed to strengthening police forces making our career more attractive and more equipment. » Hence forward Montenegro spoke of increased penalties for crimes against authority agents, more proximity police, need to reduce violent crime and feeling of insecurity. André Ventura would not make a very different speech to the departure of this police school.

Melo looking for space
In a campaign where there is only room for Montenegro, Nuno Melo seeks ways to appear, which is not easy on a turn that has as a motto: « Let Louis work. »

After being accused of jealousy and some malaise with the blink of eye that the AD leader has made the liberal initiative, Nuno Melo tries to correct the shot, looking for a more institutional and less intrusive image. Throughout the day the presence of the CDS leader is not noticed, and this was also the day of visibility to Fernando Alexandre, one of the ministers with the best image of the government.

Behind the scenes of the caravan, it discreetly works another party machine, the CDS. There are several elements of the party that accompany the circuit and are permanently attentive so that Nuno Melo is not diluted in the entourage.

The priority is to find ways to give the leader protagonism without causing discomfort in the scheduled agenda. It’s not easy, but opportunities are emerging at least for photographic moments. It was the case at the end of the rice field, when Melo climbed to Gipe Agricultural and made some maneuvers in the view of the media, at a time, when Montenegro was already leaving the place. Beside him, another protagonist looking for visibility, Sebastião Bugalho who took the day to accompany AD’s caravan.

Nuno Melo’s moment would only arrive at night, at the rally dinner at the Queen’s Caldas, where a speech time is always reserved.
What we were realizing throughout the day we followed the campaign was some tension among centrists to, on the one hand, do not cause damage or controversy in the last days of the campaign, but at the same time, not let the party disappear or dilute. The militants who follow the caravan are doing their work and above all try to stand out in the country’s regions, where the party still maintains some strength. This is the case precisely Leiria where the local machine has strived to contribute to fill the expoeste pavilion of AD supporters.

Stability and useful vote
It was on Tuesday night that Montenegro inaugurated the one that would become the speech until the end of the campaign. Although excited, campaign officials maintain doubts about what can really tell the Portuguese to political parties on Sunday night. The uncertainty about the reliability of polls overrides the most optimistic expectations and among the leader’s closest to the leader a very similar result is a year ago.

Everything seen and reviewed, the opinion is unanimous: the final message of the campaign needs to be tuned. That was the focus of the hard core of the AD caravan throughout the day, because the truth is that in the queen’s caldas, Luís Montenegro first made the speech that no longer dropped these last days of campaign.

To the ‘major majority’, requested from the beginning, the AD leader has now joined another appeal: ‘Useful vote is the only one that can bring stability to four years’.

Faced with a pavilion full of supporters, Montenegro explained that it is not enough to win, « it takes a constructive majority », as opposed to the « destructive majority », which dominated the last legislature. The PSD leader argues that only with a majority, who has never classified as absolute, it is possible to ensure the stability that most Portuguese aims.
The message seems to have passed like the campaign strategies wanted. Since Tuesday night Luís Montenegro no longer has a « confusing message », as the sunrise has heard from the many journalists who follow the caravan and started using the useful vote formula for the stable majority.

Looking at the polls the high levels of voting intention in arrival seem to have become the main concern of the hard core of the democratic alliance. After a week when the liberal initiative and the hypothesis of a possible post-election understanding, it was the central theme of the campaign, suddenly the theme disappeared from the speech.
Before heading to the north, outside the Expoeste Pavilion, in the Queen’s Caldas, Montenegro would still have to react hot to the theme that at that time dominated the agenda of the media. André Ventura’s indisposition in the midst of a rally in Tavira dominated the political agenda, because when he was questioned, Luís Montenegro still did not know what the severity of the situation was.

The health problems that still affected the leader of arriving at the time of the closing of this edition, did not divert AD to try to steal as many votes as possible to André Ventura’s party.

AD leader and prime minister, he agreed to give birth to Sol, to make our readers a last message on the last day of the election campaign. Not to mention an absolute majority, Montenegro bets everything on the useful vote that can bring stability to 4 years.

Luís Montenegro. ‘Only the reinforcement of AD guarantees stability’

At the end of the campaign, what is the final message you want to leave to voters. The one you would like to reflect before you vote?
The main message is that the data is released and there is only one solution to prevent more elections in the coming years and that Sunday results do not come out a legislature government, with governance conditions. This government at this time only we can offer. That is, the campaign showed that there is a relative programmatic convergence of all, with what are the main guidelines of the government.

What do you mean with that?
We speak of immigration and essentially people agree to what we are doing: regulate and dignify. We talk about security reinforcement, and at this time, all political forces admit it. We talk about tax competitiveness: less taxes on labor income, everyone agrees. About companies, there are different views, but the country realizes very well and mostly that the strategy is correct. And finally, also in the reinforcement and safeguarding of essential services: in housing, education, health…

In health is there more criticism?
There are criticisms, but if we are going to see the solutions themselves, it is more the noise than the criticism in the solution. For example, the model C Family Health Units that I defend were decided by the PS government, it was Campos Correia that created them. Never implemented them, we are implementing. I do not mean by this that we are all in agreement, but from a programmatic point of view, there is a certain convergence, that I think society has realized and that the Portuguese realized.

Is that why you set your speech in this final stretch of campaign to appeal to the useful vote?
Yes, because only the reinforcement of AD guarantees stability and the Portuguese can trust us because the larger majority that I have been talking about these days is a majority that will have humility and dialogue ability. The Portuguese do not need to be afraid to give us this confidence.

There is a risk of coming to the 18th with a result similar to what we had a year ago. Is that your fear?I think similar won’t be. If we want to take this opportunity to solve the problem of political stability it was very clear that the only solution that can give it is AD.

And for that you need an absolute majority?
This will go through a concentration of votes, by little dispersion and therefore by a majority that is robust.

But why don’t you ask for this absolute majority?
I trust the decision of the Portuguese and so I have insisted on the idea of ​​a larger majority than we had in 2024.

Was it satisfied if it had a sum of deputies superior to the sum of the deputies all on the left?
I think we have to fight for as many deputies as possible. I won’t even be setting a goal. It is even until the last of those that can be conquered.