Covid-19 in Portugal: participation will be one of the challenges of the presidential election
Presidential election in Portugal this Sunday, January 24, 2021. An election marked by the upsurge in the coronavirus pandemic and whose participation is one of the challenges.
AP - Armando Franca
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
This Sunday, January 24, Portuguese voters go to the polls for a presidential election a priori without much suspense since all the polls predict the re-election of the outgoing president this evening.
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the issue is rather elsewhere.
Publicity
Read more
with our correspondent in Lisbon
,
Marie-Line Darcy
We are indeed expecting a record abstention for this presidential election in which the outgoing president, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, is a candidate for re-election.
The ballot was maintained despite the seriousness of the health situation and the confinement imposed for ten days.
Impossible to change the Constitution, in such a short time and under a state of emergency, which is necessary to suspend a poll.
The only concession to the pandemic: the suspension of the ban on movement between the municipalities of the country, many Portuguese still voting in their towns and villages of origin.
To reassure voters, it was necessary to increase the number of safety instructions.
In Lisbon, the municipal police enforce the distances between voters.
They spray their hands before allowing entry into the polling stations.
The lines get longer because it takes time to allow entry into the sports halls or schools where the ballot takes place.
Many Portuguese have said they want to move anyway, but the apparent crowd could be misleading.
Polls show massive abstention, between 60 and 75%.
Which would be completely new for a Portuguese presidential election.
►
Read also
: in Portugal, President Rebelo de Sousa is seeking a second term in a difficult health context
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Portugal