Thousands of Portuguese anticipate their vote for fear of contagion and confinement on election day.
More than 300,000 voters, including António Costa, Portuguese Prime Minister and Socialist leader, registered to go to the polls today in Portugal, in a day of early voting that will serve as a “test” for the legislative elections on the 30th and that takes place marked by anti-covid measures.
Still no data closed, participation is limited to between 30% and 40% in key centers, such as Porto and Lisbon, figures that project a high abstention rate.
Early voting tries to limit abstention in a country where voting by mail is not contemplated and, although it is not traditionally a demanded alternative, the advance of the pandemic -with more than 58,000 daily infections- has multiplied the requests.
The more than 300,000 registered voters today represent a jump over the 50,000 of the 2019 legislative elections but they are far from the million expected by the authorities.
The omicron factor is final. Thousands of Portuguese anticipate their vote for fear of contagion and confinement on election day.
It is estimated that more than 400,000 people will be isolated on January 30, although they will be able to vote between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., in the last time slot.
Today, the security measures have been extreme and both Costa and the mayor of Porto, the independent Rui Moreira, and the communist Joao Oliveira, among others, have called on the Portuguese not to stay at home after casting their votes.
mobilize the vote
The elections “are a unique moment in which citizens decide,” Costa recalled today after voting early in Porto. “All the conditions are created so that everyone can vote safely,” he insisted.
The mayor of Porto, who received Costa at the electoral college and also voted today, did not hide his concern.
“I am very concerned that this whole pandemic situation will lead to people staying at home,” he admitted. “The important thing is that everyone who can come to vote. Democracy requires everyone’s vote.”
Catarina Martins, from the Left Bloc (BE), he did not vote early but called on voters to fulfill their commitment because “it is being shown throughout the country that voting is safe” and “it is important that no one gives up choosing and that everyone goes to vote.”
Masks, sanitizers and rows of colors
Registration for early voting was simple, it was enough to register on a website and mark the time and place of voting. And the security measures are guaranteed.
The authorities have asked voters to wear surgical or FFP2 masks -discarded cloth-, disinfect their hands, keep their distance and use their own pen.
In some centers, such as the university in Lisbon, which concentrates the bulk of the early vote in the country, the electoral circles were divided into faculties that were also marked with different colors to avoid confusion.
At half a day, barely 25% of those enrolled had passed through the university, although, Diogo Moura, councilor of the Lisbon city council, explained to Efe, around 50% had already voted in other schools in the capital.
“We appeal to all those who registered to vote today to come and feel that same security to be able to come normally,” added Moura.
For Ángela Malcato, registration “was very easy.” “Everything was online, I already knew where and I went to vote,” the young woman, who voted today at the university, explains to Efe because “covid is increasing a lot,” she feared being confined and “I thought as prevention, do it this week.”
Inés Vigario wants to “be part of the change” and wanted to vote today to ensure that she could exercise her right. “I’m registered in Porto and I live in Lisbon. It’s a matter of convenience,” she says.
Campaign advances with poll war
Meanwhile, the campaign is moving towards its final stretch.
Favorite in the polls, Costa today avoided reacting to the latest polls -which point to a fall in the PS-. “Elections are won on election day,” he insisted.
The leader of the PSD, Rui Rio, accused the Socialists of not having a strategy and limiting themselves to criticizing: “Nobody manages to govern a country by criticizing the others. Criticizing the others is not a program at all.”
From the BE, Catarina Martins, recommended that the PS abandon the strategy of “burning bridges with the left” and asking for an absolute majority because “it opens the way to the right.”
At the halfway point of the campaign, the polls place the PSD only 4 points behind the Socialists -37% compared to 33%- and predict a rise of the far-right Chega.
The level of undecided votes -around 20%- and abstention -greater than 45% in the last legislative elections- fueled by the pandemic, will be decisive.
Altogether, more than 10.8 million people are summoned to the polls in these elections, advanced in the middle of the legislature after the rejection of the 2022 Budget prepared by the Government of Costa. (I)
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