Physician suspended for disclosing alleged method to “cheat” tests to Covid-19 – Cidade Hoje
The Deputy Secretary of State and Internal Administration announced today that the Government will double the tables for early voting in mobility in the next legislative periods, given the increase in the number of cases of the pandemic.
“In the early vote on mobility, we are going to double the capacity, that is, in relation to the presidential ones. (…) The pandemic is at a moment of recrudescence and, therefore, it is natural that there are more people voting in mobility and, to that extent, we have more than doubled as tables for voting in mobility ”, said Antero Luís.
The Deputy Secretary of State and Internal Administration spoke to journalists at Quinta do Grajal, in Agualva-Cacém, where he monitored the process of sending material to the municipal councils to support the legislatives of January 30, namely surgical masks, san gel and practical guides, manuals and other documents about licenses.
In total, according to a note from the Government, 1,303 early voting tables will be created in mobility, “that is, 628 more tables that were created for the 2021 Presidential, where 675 early voting tables were created”.
According to Antero Luís, the measure aims to allow “more Portuguese people to vote on the weekend before” the legislative changes, on January 23, so that, if the Portuguese sign up for early voting, there are “two days of election: one on the 23rd, and one on the 30th”.
The Secretary of State also stated that, “if it is necessary to open more tables and take more votes to the places where it is necessary”, the Government can increase “to whatever is necessary” this capacity.
Asked by journalists about the solutions anticipated by the executive case, typical case of people entering isolation after the date of the anticipated vote, Antero Luís stated that the Government “can’t do anything”.
“From the point of view of those who are in confinement as determined by the health authority, the Government obviously cannot do anything, because it is what results from the law, the Government has to comply with the law, and the electoral administration complies with the law and the Commission National Elections monitors compliance with the law”, he said.
The Secretary of State maintained that, “in a context of pandemic, it is not possible to make laws every week” and that, with the currently dissolved Assembly of the Republic, it is not possible “obviously, for the law to be changed”.
Asked if anyone who enters into confinement in the last week of the campaign has no solution, Antero Luís replied: “It has always been like this, I don’t know where the novelty is, it’s just that in the past there wasn’t either”.
The Secretary of State also defends that it is not known what the pandemic situation will be on January 30th, referring to the “experience of other countries where the peaks have already passed”.
“This context is uncontrollable from a logistical point of view. What we do is to use what is in the law”, he reiterated.
The secretary of state also ruled out that the fact that thousands of voters cannot go to the polls could affect the electoral result, answering: “why should this condition?”.
In total, it is expected that 15,124 polling stations will be created for the next legislatives, with “13,821 polling stations on election day, on January 30th, and 1,303 voting in advance voting in mobility on January 23rd”, he stresses the Government communiqué.