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PARA QUE OS CIDAD?OS PORTUGUESES NO ESTRANGEIRO TENHAM VOZ [1]](https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4D12AQEJz1hOjELyQA/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/article-cover_image-shrink_600_2000/0/1730157974630?e=2147483647&v=beta&t=HZAnshpGccHC9qDFu_BLpLXOgT7wnAaXqje5vpsXxcg)
PARA QUE TODOS CONTEM – PARA QUE OS CIDAD?OS PORTUGUESES NO ESTRANGEIRO TENHAM VOZ [1]
Petition For Secure Online Voting
7,500 Signatures From Registered Portuguese Voters Needed
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 28, 2024
COUNCIL OF THE PORTUGUESE COMMUNITIES
Washington, DC Consular Area
United States of America
Wash., DC – The global civic group – Associa??o Também somos portugueses (TSP)[2] – one of the preeminent groups in the Portuguese diaspora working for greater and unimpeded access to the ballot in Portuguese elections – needs 7,500 signatures on its petition [3] – to compel a discussion in the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic (Parliament) – the “Portuguese House of Democracy.”
“As the duly elected Counselor, Washington, DC Consular Area, Council of the Portuguese Communities, I congratulate TSP and partners – GRI-DPA – Grupo de Reflex?o e Interven??o –Diáspora Portuguesa na Alemanha [4] and Movimento Sinergias da Diáspora [5] – on this imperative initiative. Access to the voting booth and proportional representation – are two of my highest electoral reform priorities. I am honored to add my name to this endeavor,” stated said Mário Francisco da Costa Ferreira.
The petition has three main objectives:
For all details of the petition, please click on this link .
?Portugal has enjoyed the right of universal suffrage (right to vote) since it was enshrined – guaranteed – in the Constitution of April 2, 1976, and subsequent revisions – Article 10 – Universal suffrage and political parties [7].
Yet, and as we celebrate 50 years of the “Carnation Revolution” – the genesis for this right – many fellow Portuguese residing outside of Portugal continue to be disenfranchised. This a blatant violation of the Portuguese and EU Constitutions.
Added the Counselor, “The time has long past for the over 1.5 million eligible and registered voters in the diaspora;[8] including more than 67,000 in United States[9] and the over 15,000 in the Washington, DC Consular Area [10] to ‘count’ and ‘have a voice.’ I just completed the petition – online – and ask all other fellow and eligible Portuguese citizens to do the same.”
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The Counselor also reminded the electorate that they, too, need to engage more vigorously in the electoral process. For example, in the last election for the European Parliament, a mere 146 voters of the 15,000 plus eligible voters – cast a ballot in his jurisdiction.
"While distance is one but a major factor to such high abstentions,” Ferreira concluded,“we – the public – voters – too, need to make a greater effort to cast a ballot. We need a collective paradigm change – electoral reforms. We need to vote by phone. The technology now makes it secure and possible.”
Until voting by phone becomes a reality, another short-term option the Counselor is a major proponent of is the utilization of more voting locations in the community – in key community organizations – the civic organizations – the places where we congregate. A discussion he hopes to have with community leaders and the Portuguese Embassy’s Advisory Council, of which he is a member.
Counselor Ferreira has been collaborating on these reforms with two other entities: Bradley Tusk, author of “Vote With Your Phone ” and Prof. Paulo Trigo-Pereira, President of Institute of Public Policy – University of Lisbon – project “Reformar?o sistema eleitoral, renovara democracia .”
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[2] Counselor Ferreira is a founding member of the Association –https://www.facebook.com/@tambemsomosportugueses .
[3] Click on the link in footnote 1.
[6] This includes voting by phone: https://mobilevoting.org .