At least 14 people have died during, or in the immediate aftermath of, extratropical cyclones Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, which have caused severe flooding from the southern town of Alcoutim to the bustling northern city of Porto, where the Douro River’s waters overflowed into the Ribeira neighborhood. Fierce winds have knocked out the power supply to more than 100,000 homes across the country, and the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere has placed all coastal municipalities under yellow alert.
Weather-related interruptions of the country’s public transport networks could complicate voters’ attempts to reach polling stations. Traffic is suspended on Coimbra’s urban railway network and the railway linking Lisbon with seaside suburbs like Estoril and Cascais is operating on a reduced schedule.
To postpone or not to postpone?
Ventura this week called for the runoff to be postponed, insisting the country was “not capable of holding elections in this environment.”
Although 19 especially hard-hit municipalities — home to 31,862 voters — have been given permission to delay the vote by one week, polling stations are open everywhere else. Both outgoing President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the National Electoral Commission insisted postponing the vote nationwide would contravene electoral law.
Center-left candidate Seguro on Friday suggested Ventura was attempting to create confusion over the status of the election because he “has many incentives to push for the electoral demobilization of the Portuguese people.”
In a televised address on Saturday evening, Rebelo de Sousa once again confirmed the vote was moving forward and urged electors to “overcome the calamity” to cast their ballots. Comparing the current conditions to those experienced when presidential elections were last held in 2021 — in the midst of the Covid pandemic — the outgoing president declared “voting means freedom, voting means democracy, voting means Portugal.”