The former general secretary of the CDS-PP Francisco Tavares declared his support for João Cotrim de Figueiredo’s presidential candidacy, pointing out him as the only candidate capable of understanding that “the economy is not just a technical issue”, being “the basis of the future of young people, innovation in companies and the dignity of families”.
“We need a President who does not limit himself to commenting on the country, but who pushes it forward”, defended Francisco Tavares, in a statement of support for the Liberal Initiative MEP. And that can be interpreted as a barb towards Marques Mendes, a candidate supported by the CDS-PP Executive Committee, and who over the last decade has made television commentary on SIC.
For the former centrist leader, who was general secretary of the party’s previous president, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos – as both were, before that, in the Popular Youth -, Cotrim de Figueiredo will be a President of the Republic “who does not arrive at politics through calculation, but through conviction”. And who, having led companies, faced real risks and assumed concrete responsibilities, has “indispensable experience in a country that desperately needs pragmatism and execution”.
Francisco Tavares also said that, despite not belonging to his party, he always saw in Cotrim de Figueiredo “a deputy who fulfilled his role”, being “competent, prepared, frontal without being aggressive and critical without falling into demagoguery”.
Highlighting the “integrity” of the presidential candidate he decided to support, the former secretary general of the CDS-PP says that the Liberal Initiative MEP will be “a President prepared for the present, committed to the future and capable of returning ambition to Portugal”. And in which he sees “a moral reference” that “pacifies, but does not put to sleep”; who “knows how to listen, but also knows how to demand”; and that he is “someone with accumulated experience, but with the energy to inspire an entire generation that refuses to give up on their country.”
Francisco Tavares joins historical centrists, such as Cavaleiro Brandão and Cruz Vilaça, among the supporters of Cotrim de Figueiredo’s presidential candidacy. And the liberal’s campaign has presented other names of figures who voted for the AD for the legislative elections, but are now with him, such as his representative, José Miguel Júdice, the former PSD deputy Liliana Reis or social democratic councilors Bruno Vasconcelos (Seixal) and David Pato Ferreira (Vila Franca de Xira).