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The president of Benfica, Luís Filipe Vieira, in an interview with THE BALL, clarified the whole situation regarding the change in the date of the elections.
– The elections were brought forward to Wednesday 28-30, with more restrictive measures to combat the pandemic decreed by the Government. His candidacy was favorable to the anticipation, the others protest, they say they were summoned by the AG Bureau to hear a statement, they complain that they were not listened to, they accuse him of having been the true mentor of this decision and Noronha Lopes even said that Luís Filipe Vieira feels like owner of the club. Do you agree with the date? Did you decide that the elections would be on the 28th? Do you feel like the owner of Benfica?
I’ll start with the last one. It is even an offense for Benfica fans. I think the Benfica fans chose me for the work I did on behalf of Benfica and for defending the rights of Benfica. In all terms, I was elected with more than 83 percent. Forever. Or Noronha Lopes was distracted, and I think he’s very distracted, especially since he never followed Benfica again … he left at that moment and nobody can say anything because he was looking for his life. I remember saying a curious phrase to a person who, fortunately, is alive. He said: ‘I’m glad to go because reaching the Estádio da Luz will be the end of the world with Benfica.’ I don’t know what I meant by that, but there are people who can convey that. Never, never, have I claimed to be the owner of all this, or rather, the owner of Benfica. I couldn’t have that wish because Benfica’s partners will always be the owners of Benfica. And I wouldn’t take the initiatives I did to take SAD assets for the club. The trees in the forest that I thought to plant are planted. It is not worth inventing. As they have no ideas … they say they want to buy a train, they want a sports director, the other says it is Gestifute, then they are commissions. Projects… there is nothing. Or they say: ‘I’m going to be the European champion.’ So where is the money? ‘Ah, I don’t know, see you later.’ It’s not like that. The truth is that the work that there is in Benfica is done and paid, it is donated to those who hurt it is paid. Even in relation to the elections, I was traveling and when we land the first thing we do is go to the cell phone. I went to see. [Dia] 28? And I called and asked why the elections are on the 28th. ‘Ah, no, the State has decreed, the Prime Minister, we have to change and anticipate because afterwards we don’t even know if there would be a possibility of holding the elections. In fact and we comply with the statutes. ‘ I do not care on the 28th … Any candidate will do it on the 28th or 27th, 26th or 25th. I even left the campaign, as you know, out of respect for the instructions of the Directorate General of Health. . Only if they expected, later on, that Benfica would lose or that there would be a state of confinement and here we were all illegal and there were never any more elections at Benfica. Sometimes I don’t know what people think. So isn’t voting much more stable? There are possibilities to vote. Benfica made a fantastic investment to be a democracy, the broadest base in Benfica’s history for members to vote, participate, have influence in elections, that is, members have to say who they want. command Benfica. After all this investment there is no democracy? Did I impose myself? No, the president of [Mesa da] The General Assembly made the decision. I met her when I landed. And then they clarified the situation for me. But I also want to say that any other candidate, if you think about it, will see that the president of the GA did very well in making the decision. If it was 28, 26 or 27, I don’t know. 29 cannot be because we play, nor 30 [já em vigor as medidas do Governo]. He made a very sensible decision to defend the interests of Benfica, “Vieira said in an interview with THE BALL.
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