Communities want presidential veto if postal vote loses primacy in elections

Pedro Rupio was speaking to the Lusa agency at the end of three days of CRCPE meetings in Lisbon, during which meetings were held with the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, political parties and the advisor to the President of the Republic for the sector.

One of the resolutions that came out of these meetings was the proposal to the Permanent Council of the Council of Portuguese Communities (CCP) so that when it meets with the President of the Republic, it suggests a presidential veto, should “an initiative in the Assembly of the Republic arise that removes the primacy postal vote in national elections in which Portuguese communities can vote”.

“We know that there will be the possibility of withdrawing this primacy and that, instead of postal voting as the first option, there will be in-person voting. We are very reticent about this and fear a major reduction in the electoral participation of Portuguese communities, hence we move forward with this recommendation, which we are going to make to the Permanent Council” of the CCP, he said.

Rupio considers that the measure would be a setback, especially at a time when the communities intend to see the possibility of postal voting extended for the presidential elections, which is not yet possible.

Recently, a PSD bill was introduced in the Assembly of the Republic, which aims to extend postal voting in presidential and European elections.

The CRCPE elected today a new board, with Pedro Rupio, who did not run for re-election, to be replaced by Alfredo Stoffel, with Sérgio Tavares as the new secretary.