Portugal polls on Jan 24 despite lockdown: Prez

Lisbon, Jan 21 : Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has confirmed the holding of presidential elections on January 24, despite the ongoing lockdown imposed in the country in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“The Portuguese should vote on Sunday. It is very important to vote while respecting health rules, many democracies have done so in far more serious situations than we are experiencing,” he told journalists here on Wednesday.
In the midst of a campaign for re-election, Rebelo de Sousa said that “the response to fight the pandemic” cannot “paralyse democracy”, ruling out any possibility of the election being postponed, reports Xinhua news agency.
The President admitted that the elections must continue even if it is “almost inevitable” to hold the second round.
“This is a way of showing a commitment to affirming democracy, not suspending it, not paralysing it, not stopping it and not postponing it. We affirm the importance of living in democracy, whether or not there is a pandemic,”he added.
Rebelo de Sousa said he assumed “maximum responsibility for what goes well or badly” in the political management of the fight against the virus in Portugal.