“My decision is to proceed with my candidacy for the Presidency of the Republic. It will be formally announced on May 29,” said the admiral, in statements to Rádio Renascença.

According to him, his decision was also taken taking into account given “some internal instability that has spread” in the country, due to short-lived governments and the lack of stable governance.

“This internal instability is there for all of us Portuguese to see,” highlighted Gouveia Melo, for whom the “world has changed a lot” since 2023.

“The war in Ukraine has worsened, tensions in Europe have also increased, and the election of Mr. Trump as President of the United States of America has changed the international landscape. We are facing a new attempt to build a world order that could be dangerous, or could significantly affect us,” stressed the former Chief of the Navy General Staff.

In the interview, Henrique Gouveia e Melo also said that the war in Europe and the instability that “puts NATO itself at risk” contributed to his “motivation to move forward” with a candidacy for Belém.

According to him, a President of the Republic, because he is elected by a majority and is not dependent on parties, can contribute in a “very decisive way to the structuring of medium and long-term policy” and to the structural reforms that “have been pending in Portuguese society for many years”.

When asked about the decision to move forward now, just a few days before the early legislative elections, Gouveia e Melo claimed that the time to announce his candidacy “is starting to run out”, given that he needs to send out invitations for the ceremony on the 29th, which would result in a “very poorly kept secret”.

“And that’s it, I have this opportunity to say out loud that I will truly be a candidate and on May 29th I will formally announce my candidacy,” he reiterated.

Refusing to comment on the positions of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Gouveia e Melo acknowledged that they are “very different people” and that, if elected, his way of acting “will be very different from the current” head of state.

“Well, I will be different. At this moment of announcing my candidacy, I don’t want to worry about the past, I only want to worry about the future,” he said.