The PSD/Algarve District Political Commission is going to raise a case against Pedro Xavier, president of the social-democratic council of Portimão and councilor elected at recent Autárquicas, for having signed an agreement with the PS for the Chamber, «in default of the statutes and the organs' of the party.
Luís Gomes, president of the District, in statements to the Sul Informação, added that the agreement, which guarantees the PS and the newly sworn in mayor Isilda Gomes the majority that did not get in the elections, "does not have coverage of the District Political Commission", so a disciplinary process will be raised to Pedro Xavier, who has already “does not deserve the political trust” of the Algarve social democrats.
The other social-democratic militants who signed the agreement will also be the target of a process, although Sul Informação he found that the document has also been signed by independents who were part of the PSD lists of the various municipal bodies (City Hall, Municipal Assembly and Parish Councils).
The meeting of the District Assembly of the PSD, which took place this Saturday in Faro, was intended to analyze the results of the Municipal Elections, which ended in a disaster for the Social Democrats, who lost three Municipal Chambers to the PS (Loulé, Lagoa and Alcoutim) and one to the CDU (Silves).
Portimão case dominated PSD District Assembly
But the theme that dominated the District Assembly was the case of Portimão. Luís Gomes himself, in statements to our newspaper, admitted that there was “great consternation in relation to this matter”.
Carlos Gouveia Martins, president of JSD/Portimão, added that "there was no militant, from Aljezur to Vila Real de Santo António, who did not mention the case of Portimão."
The issue of the agreement established by the councilor and president of the Municipality with the PS was the one that motivated the most criticism, but the reasons that led militants to join opposing lists, the expulsion of these militants intended by the Municipality and the never seen third place of the PSD were also debated in local elections in Portimão.
«It was more like a PSD/Portimão plenary session, since, among the hundred militants from all over the Algarve, around thirty were from Portimão. It was a very sad moment, because the PSD/Portimão was very messed up and not even the two vice-presidents of the council who were there, Luís Miguel Martins and Luís Rodrigues, defended what happened in Portimão», said Carlos Gouveia Martins.
The most curious thing is that Pedro Xavier, the president of the Municipality and councilor at the center of the controversy, was not even present at the Municipal Assembly. At that time, the councilor was beside the mayor, socialist Isilda Gomes, and the two PS councilors, Castelão Rodrigues and Ana Figueiredo, at the inauguration of the «Bold.Ponto Criativo» space in the center of Portimão.
Taking into account that the PSD/Portimão, whose Municipal Section Committee has even been without a quorum for months, following several dismissals, has not yet called any Assembly of Militants to discuss the Local Authorities, let alone to debate the Agreement, the party's District he is going to ask for the convening of this magnificent meeting of the Portimonenses Social Democrats.
Loss of trust can jeopardize agreement
The more than likely loss of confidence in Pedro Xavier by the PSD could call into question or at least change the scope of the "coalition agreement" that the councilor was able to establish with the PS.
For if the councilor loses the political confidence of his party, he will still be able to remain in the Chamber as a permanent councilor and thus guarantee the majority that the socialists need to get their proposals through.
But, to what the Sul Informação he found, both in the Municipal Assembly and in the Parish Assemblies, there are militants who are not willing to stop being so in order to honor an Agreement with the PS that, for the most part, they have not signed, nor are they aware of. In other words, the “coalition agreement” announced by Isilda Gomes, in her inauguration speech on Thursday, runs the risk of only being applied in the City Council.
The agreement was even presented by the new mayor's president, in her speech, as a "governability solution" for the Chamber, since, as the socialist mayor herself admitted, the people from Portimonians "wanted the Socialist Party to continue to lead the destinies of the autarchy but that it established bridges and agreements with the oppositions».
On the other hand, on the night of the inauguration, Pedro Xavier assured the Sul Informação that his decision to make an agreement with the PS had been motivated by «first Portimão, then the PSD and then Pedro Xavier»…
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