In the 2026 Presidential elections, the vote will be anything but free.
Not because anyone will take away our right to vote — but because we will be pushed into a corner where choice ceases to be choice.
We will, almost certainly, go to a second round.
And in that round, for those who feel Portugal — not as a slogan, but as a living identity — only one path will remain possible. Not out of full conviction, but out of moral exclusion.
On the other side will be something that is not Portugal.
A poor, noisy import — a copy of an America which, under its current presidency, barely represents democracy anymore, and even less respects what I consider the greatest magic of the human being: uniqueness.
Difference.
Individual dignity.
The right to exist without being shaped by fear.
If that candidate were to be elected, it would be — for me — one of the greatest democratic shames of our recent history. A silent attack on what we are as a plural, open, imperfect, yet human people.
And no, unfortunately, this is not a remote risk.
It is a very real probability — especially if the weary (and they have every reason to be weary) give up on voting.
That is why I say it plainly: my vote will not be free.
In that second round, I will vote for the “mould”.
Not out of conviction. Not out of illusion.
But because voting for the other would legitimise something that does not respect the Human Being.
We are speaking of a candidate who hides behind rehearsed phrases, carefully tuned to say to working people exactly what they want to hear — while past actions and future intentions point in the opposite direction.
Only those who choose not to see will believe it. Those who close their eyes to the trajectory, the alliances, the discourse disguised as calm and simplicity.
Portugal has never needed the Portuguese more.
All Portuguese people.
Those born here and those who chose this land as their home.
Those who disagree, those who question, those who see themselves in no party.
Those who still believe in values.
In the first round, because that is what Portugal needs, I will vote for a candidate I know to be genuinely committed to promoting a new way of doing and being in politics:
– without external strings,
– with truth,
– in service of citizens.
That change is possible without violating the Charter of Human Rights, without stripping away the right to be, without crushing difference, without further tipping a balance that is already profoundly unjust.
It is easy — and even seductive — to speak of fighting corruption.
But that discourse becomes laughable when it comes from someone corrupt, funded by the corrupt, and followed by those who benefit from corruption and from a lenient, sluggish justice system (for those who already “have” the most).
That is where the difference between words and values is revealed.
And Portugal has already paid far too high a price for confusing one with the other.
Ideally, we would avoid a second round that becomes a duel between more of the same and the denial of identity.
Between “mould” and a closed-armed Portugal.
But I do not believe we will manage to avoid that scenario.
So I leave only this — without moralising, without superiority:
For the love of Portugal, do not give an opportunity to something that does not represent human values.
Vote. Even if you are tired. Even if you are disillusioned.
Because there are moments when not voting is not neutrality — it is permission.
And this is one of those times.
Leave a Reply