João Cotrim de Figueiredo, currently a Euro MP, formerly the leader of an emerging Iniciativa Liberal, has announced his candidacy for the President of the Republic saying he would like the country to be “less musty, less grey, much more modern”.
Alluding to the line-up of fellow contenders, the father of four told SIC that he imagines the younger generation “looking at the current selection of candidates (…) and not relating to any of them”. As Lusa recalls, “to date, the former president of the PSD, Luís Marques Mendes, the former Chief of the Navy General Staff, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, the former leader of the PS Socialist Party António José Seguro, and former PCP communist MP António Filipe have formalised their intentions to run” in these elections, coming in January next year. In ages, they are all in their 60s (even Figueiredo) – but his argument appears to be that his adversaries are representatives of ‘a different time’.
He told SIC’s Jornal da Noite yesterday that he wants to run a “more comprehensive candidacy,” beyond the party for which he became the first MP in Portugal, and “open it to everyone who can imagine a Portugal different from what it is today.”
“Great works are always born from the dream or imagination of someone or people, of groups of people, who think a little further ahead and a little bigger than others”, he said
“And I look at this country and I would like it to be a more advanced country, less grey, less musty, more airy, that was much more modern, where great works of culture and knowledge could be created.”
What made him decide to join this ‘race’ (that this far has not picked up any steam)? He said he has received “hundreds of messages from people from many parties,” encouraging him to move forward as they had no idea who they could vote for otherwise.
Source material: LUSA
