Gouveia e Melo says there are advantages to "not being a traditional politician"

Henrique Gouveia e Melo spoke in Peniche (district of Leiria), at the Campus da Liberdade 2025 initiative, organized by the Instituto +Liberdade.

The admiral argued that there are advantages in " not being a traditional politician ," that is, someone who " is born into party youth, has a political career without much practical experience beyond the aforementioned party-political consensus, the party-political intrigue, but then fails to resolve things, does not have a true vision for the country, is not transformative ."

Speaking to journalists after speaking to the young people, the admiral considered that his candidacy "is the only one at the moment that is supra-partisan" .

"I'm not here to establish any partisan electorate, I'm not here to defend any partisan ideology, and I'm a truly non-partisan candidate. Therefore, my only party—I'll say I have a party, I'll acknowledge it—but my party is Portugal. It's not an ideological party," he emphasized.

When asked by one of the young people about his ideological position, Henrique Gouveia e Melo said that economically he is "more right-wing" because "the economic engine must be friction-free, because an engine full of friction ends up not developing its maximum potential."

" On the other hand, there are social areas that are important, because otherwise we will leave a part of society without opportunities. And in that I am left-wing ," he added, noting that he is in the center.

In his speech at the initiative, where he answered questions from several young people for half an hour, the retired admiral considered that it is necessary to "find a balance between maximum freedom for this economic engine in a liberal market economy, which allows the economy to accelerate, a much more productive economy, but, on the other hand, taking care of the social elevators."

Gouveia e Melo also guaranteed that he will not use the popularity of his position to create or support a political party: "I swear I will never do that."

When asked if he agreed with a review of the Constitution, the candidate for Belém in the presidential elections early next year said that, although the Basic Law "has some room for improvement," because "there is always room to clean up some ideology," this is not a priority at this time.

Gouveia e Melo considered that "the powers of the President should neither be expanded nor diminished," arguing that the "President has sufficient powers to guarantee the regular functioning of democratic institutions."

In his opinion, the electoral system also has room for improvement and should "be more proportional".

"But it's a process that must be done with tweezers. As you know or imagine, tinkering with the Portuguese electoral system could mean trying to influence a process for the future. Therefore, we must do this with the greatest possible national consensus," he indicated.

The candidate opposed the dissolution of parliament during António Costa's last government, arguing that a "personal problem" of the prime minister does not call into question the legitimacy of the Assembly of the Republic.

"Interestingly, during that period, I was accused of having a reading of the Constitution that was, in some way, a generator of instability. One generator of instability was the reverse readings," he said, considering that transforming the country requires reforms that cannot be achieved with "short governance cycles of seven months, a year, a year and a half."

When asked if he would have accepted Mário Centeno as prime minister, he replied that the proposal would have to be made by parliament and if so, "he would have to accept it."

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