Macário Correia confirmed this morning, at a press conference in the main hall of the City Council of Faro, have asked for clarification of the ruling of the Constitutional Court, which determined his loss of mandate.
In practice, this request for clarification gives the mayor more time to remain at the head of the municipality, which means that, when he leaves, he will not do it for the time being.
The Farense mayor claimed, at the end of this morning, that it reached "the complete absurdity" of having a decision by the Supreme Administrative Court (STA) that determines the loss of mandate "without any of the cases in question having been considered illegal."
In other words, Macário Correia claimed that the loss of office is based on alleged irregularities that, otherwise, could be considered legal. "In this way, anyone can then be convicted without having been found guilty of any crime," he argued.
These are the arguments that underlie the request for clarification to the TC, which seeks to know "what had to be mentioned and what was not" in the first request for assessment, which was denied about two weeks ago.
At the same time, Macário Correia will raise the question to the Constitutional Court about the fact that he is being condemned for irregularities that gave rise to legal proceedings that are still ongoing.
Three of the cases that appear in the judgment of the STA until now "were filed by the Public Ministry", revealed, having been considered that there was no substance to go to court.
The mayor does not admit that the process of losing his mandate is irreversible and refuses that he is just trying to gain time, expressing his willingness to "go to the end".
If the request for clarification does not produce the intended effects, Macário Correia says he still has the possibility of asking the Supreme Administrative Court for a review of the sentence. "The decision was taken in June and, meanwhile, there were issues treated in the opposite way to what is in the judgment", he said.
However, the president of the municipality of Faro has not confirmed whether or not he will re-candidate again in the Municipal Elections next October, saying that the main hall of the Chamber is not a place for "announcements of electoral candidacies".
Faced with persistent questions from journalists, Macário only said that the law does not determine the impossibility of re-candidacy, thus opening the doors to a possible new race for the Municipal Council of the Algarve capital. "According to the law, the facts that are imputed to me do not imply [my] ineligibility," he said.
After stating several times that this was not the time to make election announcements, Macário Correia admitted that the decision to re-apply does not depend only on him and "it is a matter to be dealt with in due course".
(Updated at 13:15 pm with statements by Macário Correia)
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