More than 3 million people watched the TV debate between António Costa and Pedro Passos Coelho last night as the two party leaders went at it head-to-head, live on air.
The programme was shown on RTP1, SIC and TVI so with little else to watch, over a third of Portugal’s citizens 'turned on, tuned in and dropped out' as the debate raged covering diverse topics.
It was the most watched debate ever broadcast on Portuguese television and the face-to-face between the two heavyweight was peppered with references to the former socialist Prime Minister, José Sócrates.
Passos Coelho earlier has promised not to bring up the S word but he could not resist mentioning Sócrates on 12 occasions.
The socialist stance is that austerity is not working and the unemployment rate is too high, borrowings are too high and taxes are way too high.
Pedro Passos Coelho is content to pick selected items from his economic and political reign and point out that the socialists have no experience in successfully running the country.
In a move that has concerned Costa and delighed Passos Coelho in equal measure, José Sócrates has come out in favour of Costa and his socialists thus handing Passos Coelho perhape enough ammunition to securre a further term of office.
The general election is on October 4th which is the same day as some important football matches. The worry is that the election turn out will be low as a result.
Cavaco Silva later was "surprised" with clubs arranging football matches for the day of parliamentary elections as Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting all have fixtures play in the seventh round of the League on October 4th. the President called for everyone to vote “irrespective of football matches, any other sport or event."
"I was surprised that they have broken the tradition that football matches do not take place on election day. On 22 July when I announced the election day, at that time I thought that the football clubs would be able to alter their calendars so that tradition was upheld," said the head of state.
"People can go to the football, but before or after should not forget to exercise their right to vote because what is at stake in our country is very, very important," added the President.
"The Portuguese will make an effort to reconcile their enthusiasm for football with their responsibility for the Oct. 4 elections,” concluded Cavaco Silva.
As for the debate, one analysis showed that Costa won on points. What will happen on October 4th is imossible to predict.
