{
  "path": "/2026/01/12/portuguese-presidential-elections/",
  "site": "at://did:plc:xsx3bphrwkgeo3qnfjhzmdra/site.standard.publication/3me7k4wsueo2b",
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    "politics",
    "portugal",
    "government"
  ],
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "title": "On Portugal's Coming Presidential Elections",
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  "description": "In just under a week, Portugal will be undergoing this year's Presidential Elections, in which the next president will be chosen. And what a ridiculous spectacle - to not say the other word that is in my mind - they are already.",
  "publishedAt": "2026-01-12T15:40:06+01:00",
  "textContent": "In just under a week, Portugal will be undergoing this year's Presidential Elections, in which the next president will be chosen. And what a ridiculous spectacle - to not say the other word that is in my mind - they are already. I will be going to embassy in The Hague to cast my vote, in person. In this ballot there will be 14 candidates, but only 11 are eligible. Voting on the other 3 is equivalent to a null vote. Why? Well, after analyzing all 14 applications from all the candidates, the Constitutional Court only approved 11 of them. And this happened very close to the date, meaning that the ballots had already been printed. According to the court and with the Elections Commission, everything has been done within the agreed time periods, and they can't change it. Only the government, they say. I say it's ridiculous to be getting a ballot to vote where invalid candidates are listed. How is this even possible? Another point that seemed to have flown out of my head is that for the presidential elections, a winner needs to win with absolute majority. Considering it's the first time with so many candidates, this probably means that there will be a second round. This potential second round is already planned for February. I'm not sure if I'll participate on this second round. You see, casting a vote for the Portuguese Presidential Elections cannot be done via the post. It must be physical. I'll already be using more than 3 hours of my time and money to travel to The Hague to vote the first round. Not sure if I want to do it two times within just three weeks. The parliamentary elections, which I'd argue have much more impact on everyone, due to them actually discussing the laws and all changes, can be done via the post. So I'm not really sure why this ones are strictly in person. And for me, it's just a few hours. Imagine someone living in the USA where there's only 1 embassy (Washington DC) and 1 consulate (Florida) for the whole country. Imagine having to travel hours to be able to vote for the country where you don't live at the moment and whose politics barely influence you. No wonder most people in such countries don't vote. The vote should be stimulated and facilitated, not made difficult. Depending on the outcome of the first round, I may go for the second time. To be fair, I'm very out of date in terms of Portuguese politics, and I still need to do my research for the elections this coming Saturday. Anyways, I just wanted to rant a bit, especially regarding the ballots. How is it admissible that the ballots will contain invalid candidates? How can the law be made in such a way that the timeframes allow for this?"
}