Henrique Gouveia e Melo
Retired admiral, former Chief of the Portuguese Navy · 
Portugal
Defence
Candidacies
- President of the Republic (2026 election)
4th in the first round, with 12.32% (695,244 votes), without party backing; did not reach the run-off. Results from the Interior Ministry's electoral administration.
Positions and proposals
- Defence industry
«I don't need money from the State. We have private funding. This is an entirely private initiative because we have no time to lose.»
Original in Portuguese:
Não preciso de dinheiro do Estado. Temos financiamento privado. Isto é uma iniciativa totalmente privada porque não temos tempo a perder.
To ECO/eRadar, on the private military robotics cluster he is launching in Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula, with funding, a start-up accelerator and a logistics integrator.
- European defence
«I am not a Europeanist. I have one foot in Europe and one foot in the Atlantic. That gives us strategic freedom and opens up options»
Original in Portuguese:
Eu não sou europeísta. Eu sou um pé na Europa e um pé no Atlântico. Isso dá-nos liberdade estratégica e abre as opções
In the televised debate with António José Seguro, as a presidential candidate, when Seguro argued for more European strategic autonomy within NATO.
Background (3 more than a year old)
- NATO
«We Portuguese cannot allow the Atlantic alliance to evolve into a continental NATO cut off from the transatlantic axis and cut off from the United States»
Original in Portuguese:
Nós, portugueses, não podemos deixar que a aliança atlântica evolua para uma NATO continental desligada do eixo transatlântico e desligada dos Estados Unidos
At a conference on the future of NATO and Portugal's defence amid changes in the transatlantic relationship, already as a presidential candidate.
- Military service
«I am not in favour of compulsory military service; I am in favour of something smarter»
Original in Portuguese:
Não sou adepto do Serviço Militar Obrigatório, sou adepto de outra coisa mais inteligente
At a SEDES conference, before an audience of young people; the 'smarter' option is, in his words, a pool of volunteers with military training who return to civilian life and can be called up quickly.
- Defence spending
«But what is the point of having social spending if we have no country? Or if we have to obey an outside authority, and a dictatorial one at that?»
Original in Portuguese:
Mas o que interessa também ter despesas sociais se não tivermos país? Ou se tivermos que obedecer a uma autoridade exterior, ainda por cima, ditatorial?
At a recording of Expresso's 'Expresso da Manhã' podcast, after admitting that more defence spending will affect social spending in some way (the question was about the 5% of GDP Trump called for).
Alliances
- The country's defence treaties:
Headlines naming Henrique Gouveia e Melo
- Escola de Quadros da Juventude Popular vai ouvir Passos Coelho e Gouveia e MeloDiário de Notícias · Portugal, 09:30, 12 November 2026