Socialist Defensor de Moura will run for President
24/7/2010

Socialist Party MP Defensor de Moura has told Lusa News Agency that he will run for President in the 2011 election, adding to a field that already includes another Socialist, Manuel Alegre.

Defensor Moura, 64, a former mayor of Viana do Castelo (North) and current vice-president of the Foreign Affairs parliamentary committee. A member of the ruling Socialist Party (PS), he is expected to draw votes from Socialists displeased with maverick Manuel Alegre, a poet and former MP who has been frequently critical of PS’s leader, Prime Minister José Sócrates.

Defensor de Moura, however, argues that his main target his current President Cavaco Silva.

“My campaign is meant to complement Alegre’s; my opponents will not be Manuel Alegre nor [independent candidate] Fernando Nobre, my opponent is the right wing campaign of Cavaco Silva”, Moura told Lusa.

Moura added he expects to “force the current President to go into a second round” (under Portuguese election law, if no candidate gains an outright majority, the two candidates with the most votes go into a final ballot).

The incumbent has not declared his intentions regarding the early 2011 election, but Cavaco Silva is widely expected to run for a second term. TPN/Lusa

Edition: 1071

Uma brilhante decisao. E tempo do Norte ter um Presidente! O Dr.Defensour Moura e Homem bom de caracter,honesto, determinado e humano para poder ser o fiel dos poderes devididos com a derterminacao que todos lhe conhecemos. Forca Dr tens o Minho contigo para comecar... Posted by Manuel Horacio from USA on 15/8/2010 Interactive Topics, send us your comments/opinion on this article. Name: Email Address: Location: UK USA Açores Alentejo Algarve Beiras Lisbon Porto Madeira Other.. Telephone: Your Opinion: Enter the following security number 7911: