Manuel Carvalho da Silva, the former secretary general of workers union CGTP, has admitted in a recent interview that he is planning to run for president in Portugal’s upcoming elections in 2016.
Speaking to Antena 1, Carvalho da Silva said he does not want to “let down the many people” who have been advising him to run.
If he does become a candidate, the 66-year-old guaranteed that his bid will be “autonomous and independent” and will not depend on the support of any specific party.
The former union boss admitted, however, that he will be meeting with “left-wing parties, including PS”, to know exactly where they stand over his bid.
As i newspaper reported in 2012, Carvalho da Silva is no longer linked to a political party. He cut his ties to the PCP Communist party shortly after abandoning his role as secretary general of CGTP at the beginning of 2012.
Manuel Pizarro, of the PS national secretariat, said that Carvalho da Silva’s bid for “not yet been discussed by the party.
“Summer is the time to decide candidatures,” he said, adding that he still hopes former prime minister António Guterres will decide to run.
However, i reports that Guterres has told PS he is not interested.
Former minister António Vitorino is said tipped as the Socialist Party’s possible ‘plan B’, along with Sampaio da Nóvoa, the former rector of the University of Lisbon.
