Expresso claims Marcelo “ready to do everything” to thwart ambitions of Naval Chief of Staff
One of the country’s leading newspapers came out with the headline today: “Marcelo wants to halt the candidacy of Gouveia e Melo”.
Inside, the story read: “Strongly convinced that Admiral Gouveia e Melo really wants to be a candidate for President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is willing to do everything in his power to avoid this hypothesis”.
And why is this? The admiral, after all, became a beacon during the pandemic: a kind of example to everyone of ‘how things should be done’. He was lauded internationally; applauded almost wherever he went. Why would Marcelo be so against such a popular figure, whose whole professional focus has been on serving his country?
According to Expresso, it all boils down to Gouveia e Melo being more likely to win than Marcelo’s “preferred candidate”: SIC’s Sunday night political commentator (and member of the president’s Council of State) Luís Marques Mendes.
The paper’s story is, in many ways, difficult to read in what is ‘meant to be a democratic country’ – and in which the president is already embroiled in an embarrassing controversy about ‘strings have been pulled’.
“The President of the Republic wants to avoid that Gouveia e Melo advances”, Expresso continues, having stressed the admiral’s ‘popularity’ with personalities on all sides of the political spectrum.
Marcelo is “prepared to use the powers that the Constitution gives him – only he cannot do this on his own: he needs an ally, and this will have to be the prime minister”, says the paper.
Expresso suggests that ‘the plan’ involves “renewing Gouveia e Melo’s mandate as the Navy’s commander in chief”. “If this is possible, the consequence would be invalidating a presidential candidacy” as the timing would take the admiral out of the race, says the paper.
To be fair, this all sounds fairly silly: Admiral Gouveia e Melo has already intimated that he isn’t prepared to serve a second mandate. It is unlikely he could be ‘forced’.
Whatever the truth in this bizarre story, president Marcelo today has “rejected the idea” that he could be acting in such a Machiavellian fashion.
“The President does not support, disapprove, accelerate or hinder candidacies”, Marcelo told journalists today, affirming that he does not discuss the appointment of military leaders in public, either.
Gouveia e Melo’s mandate expires at the end of the year, which is when the ‘race’ for the presidential elections starts to hot up.
He has without doubt been an excellent Naval commander – having overseen this week in Tróia a major drone exercise as part of NATO’s Exercise ‘REPMUS 24′ (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Unmanned Maritime Systems).
To any outsider, the Admiral gives the impression of being a man who definitely steers his own ship, regardless of what anyone else may have in mind. Thus, all in all, this story is ‘odd’, given that Expresso is a ‘serious paper’, not a tabloid given to fanning sensationalism.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
