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At the prison, 2,451 inmates registered for early voting, that is, 25% of the prison population. In the case of patients admitted to hospitals, there were 160 people who applied to vote before January 24, the date of the election. The collection of votes will take place until Thursday.
Early voting is a possible mechanism in all elections, but this year, in a context of a pandemic, it acquires a new relevance.
At first, the possibility of voting at home was announced for anyone who was forced to isolate himself by decision of the health authorities.
Last week, the vote of the elderly in the homes generated controversy. The National Electoral Commission encouraged older people to vote through an organized visit to the polling stations. The fact that this is one of the most vulnerable populations in case of infection was criticized.
This Sunday, the interior minister said that, after all, older people will have the right to vote in advance.
“Everything is being done in this sense so that people who, for public health reasons, are interned in residential structures for the elderly, homes for the elderly, in the most common denomination, are equated with citizens in a situation of prophylactic isolation.”Eduardo Cabrita said at a press conference at the facilities of the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) in Lisbon.
To do this, elderly people who are in homes must be able to register for early voting between January 14 and 17, being able to exercise this right between January 19 and 20.
Only on January 17, Sunday, will it be possible to know how many elderly people register to vote under these conditions. “Depending on the number of citizens covered by this operation, vote collection teams should be formed”says the minister.
The votes will be collected by “teams organized by the municipalities,” with the support of the Electoral Administration and also the security forces, who will go to their homes, the minister continued.
These facilities should also “find a space to exercise the right to vote and follow-up by the representatives of the candidacies.”
Eduardo Cabrita considered that the context in which these elections are taking place is “absolutely exceptional”, but the “pandemic does not suspend democracy”, so the Government has taken care to guarantee not only the “proper functioning of the electoral process”, but also of “health rules”.
A similar process will be applied to people who are in prophylactic isolation in their homes or other places determined by health authorities.
Measures announced when Portugal can move to a new confinement, which should include election day.
Vote mobility
More than 20,000 voters have requested an early mobility vote for the presidential elections before 6 p.m. Sunday, a request that can be made until Thursday. More than 20,000 people in an application process that had started a few hours before.
The Portuguese who cannot vote in the presidential elections on January 24 can apply, starting today, to exercise their right to vote a week before, at the electoral college of their choice.
Early voting on mobility was extended by law passed in parliament and can be held at the headquarters of each of the country’s 308 counties, rather than at the district headquarters, as happened in the 2019 legislative elections.
So whoever wants to take their vote to January 17, in any town hall, instead of 24 in the electoral college where they are registered, must do so between Sunday and Thursday..
The request can be made electronically with the Ministry of Internal Administration on the website “www.votoantecipado.mai.gov.pt” or by ordinary mail.
The voter must mention the full name, date of birth, civil identification number, address, mobile voting table where they intend to exercise the right to vote, email address and / or telephone contact, with a draft on the website. Ministry of Interior.
On January 17, the elector votes at the table of the chosen place, according to the reform of the law, approved in October by the Assembly of the Republic.
In the last legislatures, in 2019, more than 50,000 voters voted in advance, a week before the elections.
Fewer voters per polling place
The Minister of Internal Administration reveals that there will be an increase in the number of polling stations.
Eduardo Cabrita also announced that there was a reduction in the number of voters per electoral college, that is, the usual 1,500 citizens per electoral college were reduced to 1,000.
Thus, “2,800 more voting sections” were created.
“We are going to go from just over 10,000 (polling stations) to about 13,000 polling stations and that is also a contribution to the reduction of gatherings, of queues in the exercise of the right to vote,” added the minister.
The government official also called for compliance with health regulations, which include the use of personal protective equipment and physical distance, so that the electoral process can move forward without complications and without increasing the number of infections in Portugal, which has already surpassed twice. ten thousand infections a day.
The presidential elections, which take place in the midst of the covid-19 epidemic in Portugal, are scheduled for January 24 and this is the tenth time that the Portuguese have been summoned to elect the president of the Republic in democracy, since 1976.
The electoral campaign runs from January 10 to 22, and the country lives under restrictive measures due to the epidemic. Seven candidates are running for the elections, Marisa Matias (supported by the Left Bloc), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (PSD and CDS / PP) Tiago Mayan Gonçalves (Liberal Initiative), André Ventura (Arrives), Vitorino Silva, better known as Tino de Rans, João Ferreira (PCP and PEV) and the PS activist Ana Gomes (PAN and Livre).
Since 1976, António Ramalho Eanes (1976-1986), Mário Soares (1986-1996), Jorge Sampaio (1996-2006) and Cavaco Silva (2006-2016) have been Presidents. The current head of state, elected in 2016, is Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is running again for the position.
c / The day after tomorrow
