With so much of the country reeling from the effects of two violent storms, candidate for the presidency André Ventura has announced that he will be proposing a delay in the final round of voting, scheduled for this Sunday.
On the campaign trail in the Algarve, he said: “The last thing to worry about are votes” when there are communities that are still cut off from basic amenities, and “without access to essential goods” eight days after Storm Kristin caused untold damages in multiple municipalities.
Ventura’s decision comes in the wake of similar suggestions – and observations by political commentators that the chaotic state of large areas of the country could see a sharp increase in ‘abstention’. People have so much else on their minds at the moment (like patching roofs/ mopping out homes), that voting for the next ‘head of state’ may be well down on the list of priorities.
The CHEGA leader has been visiting storm-battered communities throughout this week, and as he said today: “People are suffering (…) We don’t have the conditions for elections in this context.”
According to electoral law, elections can be delayed – but only on a local basis, not a national one. Alcácer do Sal, for example, has already announced that it will be delaying presidential voting until February 15. The reason given is the fact that the town is partially under water from recent flooding, and many people have had to be evacuated from their homes. Alcácer is also one of almost 70 municipalities that are in a situation of calamity (as decreed by the government).
With many other areas (particularly those in the Tejo river basin) already under red alert for flooding, and being advised to leave homes if they are close to the river’s margin, it may be that other municipalities follow Alcácer’s example.
President Marcelo has already said it “would be prudent” to delay voting in areas covered by the situation of calamity – and there is another issue, too: some communities are feeling so ‘poorly supported’ that people in them may decide ‘not to vote’, in order to show how strongly they feel.
This is certainly the case of the little parish of São Simão de Litém, in the municipality of Pombal, whose parish council president, Isabel Costa, told SIC last night that no-one in her area would be voting on Sunday. The parish feels completely unsupported. It has suffered days without electricity, water and communications. “Our politicians don’t come here. They do not know what we are going through here. We are abandoned. We are alone!”
Costa’s passionate outburst saw her declare that she doesn’t care whether she is sent to prison but “on Sunday, in São Simão, no-one is voting!”
Tomorrow is traditionally the last day of campaigning ahead of elections scheduled for Sunday. Thus if a blanket delay is decreed, it will have to come quickly.
Source material: SIC Notícias
