It’s practically impossible not to notice. Anyone going to the center of Montijo via the so-called Circular Externa, one of the main access roads to the city, has to slow down at the end of the road to go through a small roundabout and face, right in front, a huge outdoor which, these days, continues to display, with the smiling face of Marques Mendes, one of the slogans that the candidate used in the presidential campaign: “The value of experience.” In the municipality of Montijo, the “value” of the candidacy supported by the PSD convinced only 1735 voters6.44% of the 27,399 who exercised their right to vote on January 18 (a percentage that is lower than that achieved by Marques Mendes at national level in the first round – 11.30%).
Even though almost two and a half months have passed since the vote, Marques Mendes remains there, smiling, perpetuating in the memory of the thousands of drivers who pass through there daily the electoral disaster he suffered in January. This disaster also hit the main party that supported it, the PSD, with the singularity of the management of those advertising spaces falling to the Social Democrats who, thus, are consciously keeping a defeat on display…
But Marques Mendes is not alone. Throughout Montijo they also continue to spread outdoors with the image of António José Seguro, although in this case, taking into account that the former general secretary of the PS won the presidential elections, his stay on display, when he already took office in Belém, is less unreasonable at first glance.
As DN reported, these situations are repeated in more cities across the country and have even led the Vizinhos de Lisboa association to ask the mayor, Carlos Moedas, to put pressure on the different candidates, demanding that they remove the electoral posters that are still on public roads – which, in the association’s opinion, contribute to “the degradation of the urban image and the visual pollution of Lisbon’s public space”.
The main explanation for the posters remaining visible is financial. As those spaces are allocated to PSD and PS, the two parties prefer to wait until they have new propaganda materials and, only then, replace the posters in a single operation, instead of paying for, first, their immediate removal and, then, the pasting of the new materials.
Taking into account that the National Elections Commission is clear by saying that “the law does not provide a deadline for candidates to remove outdated electoral propaganda”; that there are no new elections in the near future; and that, looking at what is currently happening nationally, it is not surprising that Luís Montenegro would want to make a poster suggesting to the Portuguese “Fasten your seatbelt!” or that José Luís Carneiro bets on a non-mobilizing “Opposition but calmly!”; What is most certain is that Marques Mendes and Seguro will continue decorating the streets of this country for a while longer.
Something that only makes it even more evident that propaganda based on posters makes less and less sense, either due to a lack of originality or the channeling of funds to media that promote static, smiling images that say nothing to voters. Mainly young people, those whom democracy needs to captivate to remain robust.
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