“The Portuguese decide what they want”

Posted On: November 1, 2023

The President of the Republic was confronted this Thursday in Canada with a Portuguese emigrant supporter of Chega who criticized him for keeping the current government in place, to which he replied that “the Portuguese decide what they want”.

The young emigrant Dany Reis Marcelino, who identified himself as a supporter of the Chega party, approached Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa during his visit to the Missão de Santa Cruz institution, in Montreal, while he was filming the leader of the State with his cell phone.

“When are you going to bring down the government?”asked Dany Marcelino, adding: “Why are you afraid that Chega will speak to the government? Is that why you are not doing anything?”

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa responded that “the Portuguese decide what they want for the government and therefore, if they decide A, it’s A, if it’s B, it’s B”.

“But you have the power to bring down the Government, you will be known to the President of the Republic who lasted the entire PS”retorted the young man.

The President of the Republic then recalled that “the Portuguese voted for this government a year ago” led by António Costa, during the early legislative elections of January 30, 2022, which the PS won with an absolute majority.

“When there are elections, many, for local authorities, for European ones, etc., for Madeira, for the Azores, will say whether they want it or not”concluded Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Dany Marcelino, who was still filming the head of state with his cell phone and had another camera next to his body, declared at the end of this exchange: “I already had what I wanted.”

The young man wore a cap with the Portuguese flag and the phrase in English “Make Portugal great Again”, an adaptation of the slogan of the former President of the United States of America, Donald Trump. .

Questioned by the Lusa agency, Dany Marcelino identified himself as a supporter of Chega, but not as an activist, he declared that he was “fed up of seeing the same thing” in Portuguese politics and maintained that it was necessary to “abandon political correctness”. A little”.

The President of the Republic arrived in Montreal on Wednesday for a five-day visit to Canada, a country where, according to the 2021 census, nearly 450,000 people of Portuguese origin live.

His delegation includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, and the deputies João Azevedo e Castro, from the PS, Francisco Pimentel, from the PSD, Diogo Pacheco de Amorim, from Chega, Rodrigo Saraiva, parliamentary leader of the Liberal Initiative, Bruno Dias, from the PCP, and José Soeiro, from the Bloco de Esquerda.