Presidential elections? "I'm not running for office to avoid trying to make it to the second round."

" Obviously I'm not entering a campaign like this to avoid trying to make it to the second round," he said.

João Cotrim de Figueiredo was speaking to journalists in Peniche (Leiria district), before a speech by the Campus da Liberdade 2025 initiative, organized by the Instituto +Liberdade.

The candidate also said he doesn't want to "look like a lunatic who shows up with a base, perhaps a single digit, thinking he's going to make it to the second round," but highlighted his ability "to convince people" in a campaign that's different from the others.

During his speech at the event, where he answered questions from several young people for half an hour, the candidate returned to the topic: "I'm going to the second round and it's to clean that up."

The MEP also justified his candidacy by considering that his opponents "are useless" and stated that his "natural voters" are all those who want "a more modern, more innovative, bolder, less gray, less musty country, all those who have this intention and who understand that countries that do not make this change and do not have this attitude will have difficulties in the future."

João Cotrim de Figueiredo stated that regarding his rivals in the race for Belém, none of them have the capacity "to give the country a desire to be much more open, much more modern, much more daring, to face change and risk as natural things."

The IL MEP argued that the Constitution needs to be revised to "make it much more succinct and less interventionist, giving the majority of the time the freedom to decide the sectoral policies they want to implement."

Regarding the powers of the head of state, the candidate defended the existence of "vetoes that could not be overcome" by parliament, even if "in reduced numbers".

João Cotrim de Figueiredo also argued that a President of the Republic must have political convictions, "the stronger the political conventions, the better, but they must not be used to do what the constitutional system does not provide for, which is for the president to be a counter-power to the government."

Still, he stated that the personal opinion of a head of state cannot "be worth more than the laws that are in force."

"The fact that I am a well-known, and I believe, a staunch liberal, will not prevent me from knowing how to work with governments of other stripes, as long as they themselves do not stray from their election promises," he stated, adding that this would not mean that he would dissolve the Assembly of the Republic "if the government were not fulfilling its promises."

When asked if he would swear in a government that included Chega, the former IL leader stated that "the Constitution is quite clear: the President appoints the leader of the party with the most votes, and that leader has the responsibility to form a majority."

"And if it exists, the will of Parliament must be respected, even if it is not the ideal solution for the person holding the office at the time. To deviate for convenience or ease from this constitutional precept that the President swore to defend, uphold, and enforce on the day he took office is to deny the essence of the office," he argued.

In terms of international relations, the candidate advocated expanding "diplomatic and commercial relations, including with the CPLP."

"If Portugal is richer and more influential, it has much more capacity to influence these countries within the CPLP as well," he added.

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