Life remains difficult for most workers, for the youth and those who have worked all their lives, but the media and political landscape is dominated by the elections for President of the Republic.

It is impossible to look at the results of this first round without taking into account the continued promotion of reactionary forces and their demagogic actions, present in the succession of elections and beyond, and embodied this time in the candidacies of André Ventura, Cotrim de Figueiredo, Gouveia e Melo and Marques Mendes.

The proliferation of candidates committed to right-wing politics, rather than a proliferation of opinions, has resulted in the amplification and hegemony of reactionary messages during the election campaign.

And the worst thing is that the election results reveal that not only will right-wing political commitments remain in place in the Presidency, once again, but they also create conditions for cementing reactionary ideas that are expressed in particular by André Ventura's candidacy, but which go far beyond him, notably Cotrim de Figueiredo's candidacy, regardless of how and in what form they are presented.

Some say that the presidential elections were historic because they had the most candidates, or even because, 40 years later, there is a second round again. These elections are indeed unique because they will go down in history for the constraints, pressure and blackmail that have never been seen before.

There was manipulation, silencing, the spread of prejudice, there were the first, second and third division candidates, there was, in fact, the ‘vacuum cleaner’ operation, which will go down in history with the manoeuvre of opinion polls.

An operation that sought, and succeeded, in creating the idea among many people of a non-existent tie between three candidates, taking for granted the possibility of two reactionary candidates going through to the second round.

A climate of fear, pressure and blackmail prevailed every day, leading many people to make choices dictated not by their own convictions or opinions, but by the conditioning of this operation.

Many people, faced with what they saw before their eyes, even without any illusions about António José Seguro, even in some cases having supported António Filipe's candidacy, went out to vote for Seguro.

When Sunday arrived, contrary to what had been building up over many weeks with the presented technical tie between the candidates, it turned out that if the most voted candidate had had 14 percentage points less, he would still have gone through to the second round.

In other words, Seguro could have had 800,000 fewer votes than he did and still gone through to the second round.

800,000 votes too many for Seguro, thousands of votes that were sorely missed, especially by António Filipe, for whom a vote undoubtedly meant giving more strength to the demand for the break and change that the workers, the population, the youth and the Country need.

It is only fair to highlight António Filipe's courage, dedication, commitment, role and contribution.

An indispensable, necessary and irreplaceable candidate.

Without António Filipe, what would have been discussed in the campaign, where would the labour package end up? Where would sovereignty be relegated? Who would have spoken of peace and who would have opposed the madness of war and the arms race? And without António Filipe, who would have spoken of life, of the difficult lives of the workers, the people and youth?

Without António Filipe, that life would be represented by the voices of hypocrites, liars, demagogues, those who use poverty as a springboard.

Without António Filipe, the only political programme of any candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, the Constitution, would have been overlooked, because defending, complying with and enforcing the Constitution, which is the President's oath, is, for many, nothing more than empty words.

Without illusions and with the certainty that in the second round debate there are issues that will be left out.

Left out will be the figure of €1.741 billion, an amount that would be enough for 270 new trains, 12,000 new homes, and three times more than the State Budget for Culture: €1.741 billion per year is the amount of tax benefits for non-habitual residents. This figure, this scandal, will not be in the second round. Seguro will not bring it up and Ventura will try to hide it amid the shouting about immigrants.

Neither of them will mention the €30 million in profits that 19 economic groups accumulate every day. Seguro is not scandalised, Ventura, well funded by many of them, will stir up corruption to sidestep injustice...

The five million euros in profits per day made by the banks will not come up in the debate either. There will be a lot of talk about housing, but no one will dare to try to pinpoint those responsible for the situation we find ourselves in.

Seguro trusts that the market will solve the issue, Ventura is the expression of that same market, such are his commitments.

Left out will be the central issue of the National Health Service, which is the lack of professionals. Seguro wants pacts and Ventura wants the business of illness.

And we will see how much space they give to the labour package.

One will focus on so-called dialogue and social dialogue, the other will continue to flip-flop, raise a few issues and focus his intervention on lies, demagoguery and deception.

In this framework, with António José Seguro and André Ventura moving on to the second round, it is certain that commitments to right-wing politics will not be removed from the exercise of presidential functions.

But that does not mean that the outcome of these elections is irrelevant, quite the contrary. Rather than just watching, we must intervene to ensure the defeat of André Ventura and the objectives and ambitions of the most reactionary and backward forces in our Country. In the second round, we must defeat André Ventura's candidacy and his reactionary projects. In the second round, we must defeat those who, beyond their commitment to right-wing politics and sharing many of the current government's views, have an agenda dictated by reactionary, backward and anti-democratic criteria and concepts that are in conflict with the Constitution of the Republic. To prevent André Ventura from being elected President of the Republic, we must defeat his candidacy, and the only possible vote to defeat him is a vote for António José Seguro's candidacy.

To vote against André Ventura does not mean supporting António José Seguro or his political positioning, which speaks for itself. A positioning that has been firmly opposed and denounced by communists over the years, including in this election campaign. In fact, these elections are not a confrontation between left and right, as some say, if only they were.

But that does not mean ignoring the dangers that would result from handing over the Presidency of the Republic to someone like André Ventura, whose stated aim is to destroy the democratic regime, promote fascist values and ideas, and impose regression, exploitation, violence and contempt for democratic freedoms. André Ventura is the candidate of lies, intolerance and regression.

He is a candidate of the system and of the most reactionary sectors of big capital. Ventura's party is supported and funded by economic groups that accumulate fortunes from the current state of affairs. He is a candidate who is always in favour of speculation and the accumulation of profits by capital and who is a crutch for the government and economic groups.

Ventura talks about healthcare, but what he really wants is to destroy the National Health Service and promote the business of illness, proposing an even greater diversion of public resources from the NHS to economic groups.

Ventura talks about corruption but defends the most corrupt regime the country has ever known, that of fascism and Salazar. He defends privatisation, tax breaks for the richest, the legalisation of influence peddling, and has within his party some of the most sinister figures linked to economic crimes.

Ventura talks about minorities and attacks the poorest and most excluded in society to hide his commitment to an increasingly rich and powerful minority that funds him and gives him coverage in the mainstream media so that he can defend their interests, as he has done in the past.

Ventura speaks of his love for his country but remains silent in the face of the growing dominance of foreign big capital over our strategic companies and the national economy. He is subservient to the European Union, misses the troika and Passos Coelho, and aligns himself with the impositions and projects of US imperialism and Donald Trump's agenda, with the dangers that this poses to humanity.

With Ventura as President of the Republic, everything that is bad would get even worse.

The change Ventura wants is a return to a past of poverty, exploitation and violence against workers, women, democrats and patriots. With courage and determination, we must intervene to ensure the defeat of André Ventura's candidacy and reactionary projects.

The second round cannot be underestimated. As in other instances, the outcome of these elections is not guaranteed. No battle is won before it is fought.

The involvement and participation of communists and their allies, as well as of many democrats and patriots, is and will be decisive in blocking Ventura and his reactionary and anti-democratic projects.

This requires action to promote awareness of what is at stake in these elections. It involves contacting and informing Party members, as well as many voters and supporters of António Filipe's candidacy. It involves organised and widespread action among the workers and the masses about what is at stake.

Presently, after the first round of the elections for President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, wanting to save his disastrous policy at all costs, after standing up for Marques Mendes, declares that he is indifferent as to who will be the next President of the Republic.

He wants to keep in the PS those who, by resorting to blackmail, can be called upon to guarantee fundamental aspects of his governance, as happened with the State Budget, and at the same time he wants to maintain the continued support of Chega, which, with more or less racket, will never fail him in his commitments to those who think they own everything.

André Ventura's Chega will never fail him in the IRC (corporate income tax) cuts; it will not fail him in ending the State Surtax; Chega and André Ventura will be there, after all the flip-flops, to lend a hand on the central aspects of the Labour Package; it will not fail him in the Basic Healthcare Legislation and in the business of illness, just as he did not fail him in the face of the speculation package they called the housing package.

It counts on Chega and André Ventura's agitation for the madness of the arms race and war.

The defeat of Ventura and the far right in the February 8 elections, a goal we have set ourselves without hesitation, does not in itself guarantee the change the Country needs.

While it is urgent to defeat André Ventura's candidacy, it is even more urgent to strengthen the fight against exploitation and injustice, starting with the Labour Package, this government's actions and right-wing policies, regardless of which party plays a leading role.

Recent developments confirm the heightening of the offensive on the political, economic, social and cultural fields which, based on the actions of the PSD/CDS Government, supported by Chega and IL and counting on the complicit permissiveness of the PS, continues to implement the agenda of big capital, aiming to defend and promote its direct interests.

This offensive intensifies exploitation, exacerbates injustices and degrades living conditions, jeopardises economic development and the sovereign affirmation of national interests, insists on the Labour Package, attacks fundamental rights and public services, promotes privatisations, and pursues the so-called reform of the State, reconfiguring it to serve solely the interests of economic groups.

This offensive has an intense and coordinated ideological dimension, which, through powerful media means, aims to promote ideas favourable to the agenda of big capital and reactionary forces.

Continues and intensifies a policy, based on new decisions, which, when faced with each problem, acts to open doors to favour the interests of economic groups, always to the detriment of the response to these problems.

This is the case in healthcare, with new steps being taken to attack the National Health Service, whether through the disastrous policy of concentrating emergency services or through the open refusal to value and hire healthcare professionals, to which is now added the extension to medical emergencies of options that jeopardise the lives of the Portuguese people.

This is also the case in education, where the shortage of teachers and problems in schools are becoming more acute.

This is the case in housing, where, faced with a situation of denial of access to this right, new and scandalous tax benefits are being introduced that will only promote real estate speculation.

This is the case with the handing over to capital of the levers and instruments necessary for the Country's development, as exemplified by the new steps in the criminal privatisation of TAP or the announced deal between GALP (in which the State holds an 8% stake) and Moeve (formerly CEPSA), which increases the risks for the Sines refinery, the last Portuguese refinery, and further compromises energy sovereignty and security.

This is the case with the scandalous announcement of the dismantling of CP, with the concession of railway lines to private groups, in which public money is invested, and the profits go to these groups, which invest nothing.

This is the case with the acceptance of the EU/Mercosur agreement, which poses a serious threat to productive sectors, particularly small and medium-sized agriculture and family farming.

This is the case with the diversion of billions of euros in tax revenue to monopoly capital, reducing public resources and jeopardising the social functions of the State.

This policy, which promotes the colossal accumulation of profits by the main economic groups, the direct and privileged beneficiaries of the cut in corporate income tax and other tax benefits, heightens the injustices and inequalities present in Portuguese society.

The continued increase in prices for a long list of products and services, at the outset with food, contrasts with the insufficient increase in pensions and wages, particularly the National Minimum Wage, contributing to inequalities in the distribution of wealth.

The change that the Country needs, a break with right-wing politics and the construction of a patriotic and left-wing alternative, requires that the struggle of the workers and the people be intensified and broadened even further.

The general strike on December 11 showed the immense strength that the workers hold. A strength that, as in so many other moments in our history, has shown that it is possible to pave the way for progress, rights and the life to which we are entitled.

From here we would like to emphasise the importance of continuing and intensifying this struggle for the rights of the workers, the population, women, youth and pensioners, and we would like to highlight the general mobilisation for next February and the national demonstration on February 28 in Lisbon and Porto announced by the CGTP-IN, which we salute.

In view of developments in the national and international situation, the Party will, in the coming weeks, carry out a wide-ranging campaign to reach out to the workers, the population and youth, under the slogan “Another course for the Country. Reject the Labour Package, exploitation and injustice”.

This action will focus on life, the reality of life, and the problems that affect the majority of those who live and work in the Country, giving concrete expression to the PCP's clear position on the second round of elections and affirming the need for a break with the past and a change.

The break and change that demands better wages and pensions, that removes and defeats the Labour Package, that affirms the National Health Service and creates conditions to guarantee access to healthcare for all, that defends Public Education, that stops the ongoing attacks on Social Security, that implements the right to housing; that tackles the ever-increasing cost of living.

The break and change that demands the paths of peace and the fight against the madness of war and the arms race.

The break and change of course that demands the intensification of the mass struggle, the convergence of democrats and patriots, and the strengthening of the PCP.

As witnessed in the powerful demonstration of unity and strength of the General Strike of December 11, the workers, the people and youth have in the PCP a safe haven and the strength to combat fear and resignation.

Yes, this PCP, these people who are here, people of different ages and experiences, people who have fought so many battles.

A big salute to this party collective, which carries this Party and the struggle of the workers, the people and youth on its shoulders every day.