Express Tribune | Luís Filipe Vieira, the man who does not let himself be retained

Luís Filipe Vieira was re-elected for the sixth consecutive term at the head of Benfica at two in the morning on October 29, when there were only six hours left to complete a cycle of 24 of a historic election, with a record turnout in a singular moment: it happened in the midst of a pandemic, which advises modesty, prudence and detachment.

More than 38 thousand members voted and Luís Filipe Vieira added 471,660 votes (62.59%); João Noronha Lopes finished the race in second place with 261,754 votes (34.71%) and Rui Gomes da Silva obtained a disastrous result, with 12,341 votes (1.64%), slightly above the blank vote (1.16%) , correspondents to 8 thousand votes).

In the number of voters, Vieira beat Noronha Lopes (22,787 against 14,337) and, discriminating against voters by seniority, was higher in all items: among those who had one vote (4,900 against 3,464) and also five votes (2,374 against 2,058). , although the most significant difference was found among the oldest members, with 20 votes (10,692 against 6,431) and 50 votes (4,821 against 2,384); only 603 people elected Rui Gomes da Silva, the original opponent for these presidential elections.

But this triumph, more or less expected despite some expectations generated, cannot be devalued or seen as a mere formality. Despite the fact that there were clear signs of erosion of his image, even with cases of justice and even before the most formidable opponent he faced in these 17 years, Luís Filipe Vieira prevailed.

Yes, the distance to a direct rival is the shortest of six votes, but Vieira never seemed so fragile in the eyes of critics and many associates, as the polls report.

Even so, he prevailed with a comfortable and unequivocal margin, calling for responsibility and exhorting the favor of the defeated, and criticizing outside the media that he and the structure understand that they are not partial.

The last trimester

Now that he will begin his last four years at Benfica – he swears – Vieira will have to untangle media in the midst of a crisis to materialize the slogan that presided over his campaign: the “sports mandate”, which naturally includes championships. national and a mystical and cathartic victory in a European Cup, to end its undeniably charged narrative arc.

Then there is the political side of the problem.

By bringing Rui Costa to his side, giving him the stage that now does not give up, Luís Filipe Vieira knows that he has gained more followers, but he also knows how to read the stars and between the lines.

At the right time, with the exact conditions and a prepared team, Rui Costa can emancipate himself from the president if things go wrong, simply by not showing up in certain contexts.

Because the former number 10 knows the press well and has good press, and for romantic fans he will always be seen as the player who signed a blank salary to return “to his Benfica.”

Today, when Luís Filipe Vieira read the victory speech and came down from the pulpit without the right to contradict himself, Rui Costa approached the journalists to speak at length with each one of them, with empathy, naturalness and generosity with the defeated candidates; He spoke on behalf of Benfica, not him. In the end, he was praised by reporters, pivots, and commentators.

Perhaps this is one of the manifestations of charisma and charisma is not bought.

The others

Nor can one buy the dignity of the speech of Rui Gomes da Silva, who assumed errors and guilt in the management of an electoral race in which he was until the first to start. In 2018, two years before the elections, the former vice president assumed the will to be a competitor of Luís Filipe Vieira, from whom he had irretrievably departed.

During this time, the lawyer took advantage of the presence in television spaces and in the blogosphere to launch his platform against Luís Filipe Vieira, using words such as “commissioner”, “concrete” and “serventia” to qualify his attacks on the president. For some time it was thought that RGS would be Vieira’s only rival, even due to the omission of other candidacies, but the initial traction was lost in time, with the lack of financial support and media people on his side; and thus an electoral program with quite interesting ideas for a soccer club was forgotten.

Rui Gomes da Silva showed that television exposure does not always translate unequivocally into votes in elections. The former minister, whose experience and notoriety achieved in football debates is difficult to match, did not resist the advances of João Noronha Lopes’ team, deeply digital, supported by well-known faces, good professionals and 900 volunteers.

To say that Noronha Lopes was defeated by Vieira is to praise him, because that means equipping them, and no one would give him 34.71% of the vote in the beginning, despite the endorsements Pedro Norton, Pedro Adão e Silva, Ricardo Araújo Pereira, Pedro Ribeiro, Ribeiro e Castro, Bagão Félix, Vítor Paneira, Carlos Mozer or António Simões.

With a timid, non-aggressive start and some difficulties getting her messages broadcast during prime time on television, Noronha Lopes grew up with filmed visits to Casas do Benfica and via labels, pleasures me Share on social media to the extent that he thought it was possible to achieve the miracle.

It did not arrive.

On the other hand, faced with Vieira’s intransigence in accepting debates, Noronha Lopes launched into the attack, insistently challenging the incumbent president to a conversation with two that never happened. He hardened his speech – he said that LFV “was afraid of the contradiction” and “that he was hiding” – wasting more time criticizing what Vieira was doing than explaining what he was going to do.

The question is to know where he is going, because he assured that he would be out there.