This decision was announced through a note published on the Portal of the Presidency of the Republic on the Internet. "In 2021 the elections are scheduled for 24 January, so day 1 is well before the start of the election campaign on the 10 January. However, the President of the Republic decided not to address the traditional New Year's message to the Portuguese, as he participates, as a candidate for the presidential elections, in debates with other candidates in the immediate days," the statement reads. In this note, it is said that "the New Year's message of the President of the Republic, on the first day of the year, is a tradition of many decades, practically since there is television in Portugal".

"After 25 April, all five Presidents of the Republic elected after the 1976 Constitution addressed such messages to the Portuguese, with two exceptions, that of the Presidents of the Republic Mário Soares and Jorge Sampaio, who did not do so respectively on 1 January, 1991 and 1 January, 2001, because it was in the middle of the election campaign period". Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced his re-candidacy for the post of President of the Republic on 7 December.