Lisbon, Mar. 5, 2026 (Lusa) - Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Thursday that he would leave the presidency as he entered parliament to take office, on foot, and wished his successor, António José Seguro, to be “the best” of presidents.
The head of state was speaking alongside Prime Minister Luís Montenegro in an informal conversation with journalists at the official residence of São Bento in Lisbon, after chairing a cabinet meeting four days before leaving office.
“I wish President António José Seguro, and I have already said this twice, the best of luck. May he be very happy. And, if possible, may he be the best of all presidents of the Republic,” he said.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlighted the votes that the former secretary-general of the PS obtained in the second round of the presidential elections: “He has such support and such hope from the people behind him that it implies that it is the duty of all citizens - now I am speaking almost as a citizen - to wish for this.”
The outgoing president also expressed his hope that his successor will have “a good relationship with the government and the government with the president.”
“I think that, at this moment in the world, and at this moment in Europe, at this moment in the country, after the calamity, I think it would be ideal for everyone,” he added.
Asked how he thinks the Portuguese will remember him, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied that he has “no idea,” but stressed that when he took office, he considered whether he should change his “way of being” and decided not to.
According to the head of state, the decision was made when he walked up the ramp of the Belém Palace on 9 March 2016.
“I'm not going to change, because then you end up being neither fish nor fowl. You're neither what you are, nor what you want to be in order to wear an institutional suit and act and behave in a way, even ritually, that is not your way of being,” he explained.
“Now, it worked out well, it worked out badly. Sometimes, perhaps, it worked out better. Other times, it worked out worse,” he commented.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled that he “arrived on foot” at parliament on the day he took office, and he also intends to “leave on foot, of course,” next Monday, 9 March, the day António José Seguro takes office.
“Although theoretically, the former president is entitled to a car, I want to leave on foot. I'm going to my car,” he said.
As for what he will do next, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reiterated that he will not be involved in any form of political intervention and that “one must know how to leave the scene” and that “there can be no middle ground.”
He acknowledged that “it is perhaps the most difficult thing in the world, for everyone, for soccer players, for singers, for artists, for political interveners, it must be, perhaps, the most difficult.”
In this regard, without naming anyone, he said: “I have learnt how many times I would not appreciate having former presidents intervening in political life.”
“Therefore, I now have an obligation to have learnt my lesson, and in the future, all I can do is wish the new president all the happiness he deserves, for who he is, for his victory, and for his journey. But, precisely, not to interfere with the president, the prime minister, the government, or parliament with interventions,” he maintained.
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