Seven applications, some field changes and two firsts: this is how the lists that want to win the Portimão City Council, in the Municipal Elections on the 26th of September.
The Socialist Party has been in power since the first elections for local authorities after the April 25 Revolution, in December 1976, that is, for almost 45 years. The Portimão Chamber is one of the few in the country that has never changed its political color. Is it this one?
For the PS, the candidate is the current president of the Chamber Isilda Gomes. If he wins, this will be his third and last term. The mayor, who was once Civil Governor, had a misstep that tarnished her image: the fact that she was vaccinated against Covid-19 before her turn, invoking the fact that she was a volunteer at the Portimão Arena field hospital. Isilda Gomes explained what happened, but she didn't get rid of being constituted defendant.
As main opponents, Isilda Gomes has a former vice-president of the Portimão Chamber (Luís Carito) and the still president of the Monchique Chamber (Rui André). will be a real boss fights.
Doctor Luís Carito appears as the head of the coalition's list Happier Portimão, which brings together CDS-PP, Nós Cidadãos and Aliança. The most curious thing is that Carito was a high figure in the PS at a local, regional and even national level. In the presidency of Manuel da Luz, he was vice-president of the Chamber responsible for finance and municipal companies.
In 2013, with the Municipality of Portimão and most of its municipal companies (except EMARP) facing serious problems due to the millions of accumulated debt (after Gaia, Portimão had the largest municipal debt in the country) , Carito was eventually arrested, with other people.
At issue was an alleged misuse of 4,6 million euros from the State, with a “fraudulent scheme”, related to the “City of Cinema” and the redevelopment of the Portimão Stadium.
It was during his detention that the now House candidate ate a paper, a a post-it, allegedly to hide important information that would have been written there. This a post-it, by the way, is now used in coalition posters Happier Portimão, in an attempt to play with the subject…and devalue it.
It is true that Luís Carito came to be acquitted of all charges, in a decision known in January 2020. The acquittal, in fact, was requested by the Public Ministry that had accused him.
Last March 31, Carito announced his candidacy for the Chamber, then supposedly with the support of the PSD, the Liberal Initiative and the CDS. But if IL quickly denied this support., in the Social Democrats, the matter caused great irritation to Rui Rio, and the District Political Commission ended up with veto the chance to support the former socialist vice president of Portimão.
And what made Carito switch camps and run against his usual party? It was the very one that explained it in his presentation at the end of March., saying that over the eight years that the judicial process in which he was involved as the main accused lasted, the PS never supported him, a silence that remained even after his acquittal.
It is also curious that Carito now emerges as the candidate of the CDS-PP and that his candidacy brings together some former members of the PSD, precisely the parties and people who criticized him most bitterly when he was vice-president of the Chamber. Times change, wills change, Camões said.
Another of the candidacies with the possibility of overshadowing socialist Isilda Gomes is the coalition A New Portimão (PSD+PPM+MPT), which is headed by the Chamber the social democrat Rui André (still mayor of Monchique, for which he cannot run again).
New in this list is the fact that Ana Fazenda, former president of the Parish Council of Portimão and former councilor for Culture in the first term of Isilda Gomes, always elected by the PS, is now number two in Rui André's candidacy. Old disagreements with the current mayor were at the origin of this change of field.
who too changed fields – and, in this case, several times – is the head of the list for Chega, Pedro Castelo Xavier. It's just that he's gone President of the PSD Council from Portimão and candidate for the presidency of the Chamber by the Social DemocratsIn 2013.
Elected councilor, he guaranteed the socialist Isilda Gomes, who won but did not get a majority, the stability she needed to govern the autarchy. having you guaranteed a permanent and paid position of councilor, with assigned areas, Isilda thus got the vote she needed in the executive.
As a result of this alliance with the PS, Pedro Xavier was subject to disciplinary proceedings by the PSD and suspended from the party. He ended up resigning.
In 2019, Pedro Xavier joined the Alliance Party, which had been founded by Pedro Santana Lopes, becoming his coordinator in Portimão and number 2 on the list of Candidates for Deputies in Legislative Elections the same year.
For these Municipalities, Pedro Castelo Xavier returns to change fields and appears as the candidate of Chega à Câmara de Portimão.
Anyone who remains a candidate for the same party by which he was elected councilor (and deputy) is João Vasconcelos, head of the Left Block list. He is a teacher, a well-known figure in the municipality and at the regional level, especially for his fight against tolls on Via do Infante.
The CDU, which once had a councilor in the Portimão Chamber, has a new face. it is about Nuno Cordas, senior diagnostic and therapeutic technician, referee retired by the Algarve Football Association and micro-entrepreneur in the transport and tourism sector.
As for the PAN, this is the first time that he is a candidate for the Portimonense Chamber, featuring Ricardo Cândido, civil engineer and local businessman.
For the Municipal Assembly, there are also news, with regard to the first candidates. Thus, the socialist João Vieira, who was even the president of AM, does not run for office again, being replaced by lawyer Isabel Guerreiro, who was already president of the Parish Council and councilor. Now back to active politics.
The coalition A New Portimão (PSD+MPT+PPM) presents Carlos Gouveia Martins, president of the Social Democratic Council, the coalition Happier Portimão (CDS+ Nós Cidadãos+Aliança) has lawyer Ângela Venâncio Quadros as head of the list, while CDU also chose lawyer Lurdes Melo.
The Left Block presents Pedro Mota, CTT employee, the PAN head of the list to AM a local businesswoman Daniela Duarte, while Chega chose Mário Espinha.
For the Parish Assemblies, interesting fights are also foreseen.
Thus, in Portimão, and bearing in mind that the current president of the Board, Álvaro Bila, is number 2 on Isilda Gomes' list for the Chamber, there is a new PS candidate: Maria da Luz Santana Nunes.
His main opponent will be José Pedro Caçorino, who was once local and regional leader of the CDS, and who, in 2013, almost stole the Chamber of Portimo to the socialists, as head of the coalition's list Serve Portimão. Elected councilor, in these elections and in 2017, has been one of the most outspoken critics of Isilda Gomes' administration.
The coalition A New Portimão (PSD) presents the well-known firefighter Ricardo Silva, the CDU candidate Ana Paula Duarte, the Left Block has Miguel Madeira as its first candidate and Chega has Jorge Vieira. As for the PAN, its candidate for the Junta de Portimão is the same as for the Chamber, Ricardo Cândido.
In Alvor, the PS re-candidates the current president Ivo Carvalho, the coalition Happier Portimão presents César Barata, the A New Portimão candidate Hugo Carrajola.
Bruno Lourinho, André Nunes dos Santos and Paulo Simões are the candidates of the Left Block, CDU and Chega, respectively.
In Mexilhoeira Grande, José Vitorino Nunes, current president, remains the candidate of the PS, the coalition Happier Portimão presents Ricardo Coelho, the A New Portimão candidate Carmen Esteves. As for the Left Block, CDU and Chega, are candidates for Joana Eusébio, Alexandre Silva and Marco Marreiros, respectively.
In the Local Elections of the next 26th of September, there is one more factor to take into account and which could confuse the accounts, as far as the Municipality of Portimão is concerned. Because, thanks to the increase in the number of voters (namely foreigners), this municipality rose from seven to nine councilors (including the or the president). Whether and how this will be reflected in the election results will be seen on the night of September 26th.
In 2017, 19.962 people voted in the municipality of Portimão, out of a universe of 48.497 subscribers, which corresponds to 41,16% of the total (abstention was 58,84%).
The PS received 44,56% of the votes and elected 4 councilors (mayor included), the coalition that brought together CDS-PP, PSD, MPT and PPM reached 24,36% (2 councilors) and the Left Block got 11,66, 1% (XNUMX councilor).
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