"It was a very close fight," he admitted to Sul Informação, Ana Paula Martins, who yesterday was elected president of the Chamber of Tavira, keeping this autarchy in the hands of the PS.
Now, said the mayor, without hiding her satisfaction at the hard-earned victory, we must think about the future and move forward with projects. The main priority is, moreover, well identified: housing.
Ana Paula Martins is currently the president of the municipality of Tavir, but this is the first time she has been elected as the maximum responsible for the autarchy, as she assumed the seat of power midway through the term that is now ending, due to the departure of Jorge Botelho.
This “change of cycle”, as he calls it, is the explanation for the difficulties he felt in beating Dinis Faísca, of the PSD, at the polls – the difference was 123 votes.
“There has been a change here. Jorge Botelho's cycle was closed and this gave encouragement to the main opposition party to try to conquer the Chamber», he framed.
Ana Paula Martins also bet “on a new team, with many changes”.
Because of this, said the current and future president of the municipality, the PSD "went with everything, with the heavyweights, including a former mayor, engineer Macário Correia." As the people say, the Social Democrats "put all the meat on the roaster," he says.
In the end, even with the great proximity between the two most voted parties, the PS kept the majority (four mandates against three of the PSD).
The fierce dispute was not just for the Chamber, but “for all bodies and parishes”, where there was a surprise.
«The loss of Cachopo was an unexpected result, not least because the president [Otília Cardeira] was a re-candidate», admitted Ana Paula Martins.
Even so, the PS kept the other four together in the council, which will allow it to have a majority in the Municipal Assembly, despite the popular vote being the PSD list, headed by Macário Correia, to win.
Thus, the PS will have 15 members in the AM (10 directly elected plus five presidents of boards, members by inherence), the PSD will have 11 (10 elected and one president of the board) and CHEGA will have a municipal deputy, directly elected.
In this way, Ana Paula Martins will be able to govern calmly and carry out her projects.
And, as we have already mentioned, the most emblematic, in the view of the mayor, is that of “housing at controlled costs and supported rents”.
This is a priority, not least because "we have already signed the contracts with the IHRU". The idea is to guarantee that there are affordable homes for the people of Tavir, particularly for those with less purchasing power.
«The health area will also deserve our attention, as well as the economy, which we want to boost, in order to create more jobs. We are going to bet heavily on the post-pandemic economic recovery," he said.
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