Em Faro, the history of democratic elections tells us, there are no easy victories or certainties that the incumbent president is re-elected. Rogério Bacalhau achieved this feat four years ago, but on 26 September he will have to contest elections, where he will face new – and younger – protagonists, namely with regard to the PS and the CDU, parties that managed to elect councilors in recent municipal councils .
The fight for the Chamber of the Algarve's capital, even so, will not be done by just three. BE and PAN present candidates again and there is a newcomer, CHEGA. What there is not, as was the habit, are proposals “out of the deck”, independent ones, such as Candidato do Amor, which animated the 2017 campaign.
But, as in all elections, only who is in counts.
Rogério Bacalhau, the acting president, wanted to be and will re-apply for the position, supported by the Unidos coalition by Faro (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/IL), the same one that supported him in the 2013 and 2017 elections, which won, but with a upgrade, the entry of the newly created Liberal Initiative.
The former mathematics professor will try to achieve a feat never before achieved by any of his predecessors, since the 25th of April, in the Algarve capital: to be elected for a third term as mayor.
One of the trump cards that the still president of the Chamber of Faro if it has been valid – and which had already helped to elect, in 2009, Macário Correia, of which Rogério Bacalhau was vice-president – is the broad coalition that brings together (almost) all the parties on the far right of the political spectrum.
And if in 2013, the year in which José Vitorino, former president elected by the PSD, advanced as an independent, this coalition did not achieve a majority, in 2017 Rogério Bacalhau secured the five mandates out of nine he aspired, with more than 1500 votes of difference for the socialists, a much larger margin than in 2013.
In this way, in addition to the PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM coalition, only the PS (4) elected councilors, in the last municipal councils.
The socialists, who have been in power several times, in Faro, go to fight with João Marques, a businessman in the insurance sector and a well-known figure in the municipality.
After all, this candidate for the Chamber was a councilor with portfolio from 2005 to 2009, in an executive led by the socialist José Apolinário.
João Marques, who is also the president of the Ginásio Clube Naval de Faro, was also an opposition councilor, under the terms of José Vitorino (2003-2005) and Macário Correia (2009 to 2012).
The candidate chosen by the Socialists to run for the Chamber on 26 September spent a few years out of the limelight, focusing on his business, but now he is at stake.
The CDU, the third most voted force in 2017, also bet on a new and younger candidate, choosing Catarina Marques, a Special Education teacher at the Tomás Cabreira School Group and leader of the Teachers Union of the South Zone, as a candidate for the Chamber.
Catarina Marques is an active militant of the CDU, in the Algarve, and deserved the party's trust to try to win back seats in this Chamber for the communists.
BE, 4th in 2017, is going to fight with the doctor Aníbal Coutinho, a clinician at the Hospital de Faro, where he has already held, for example, the position of director of the Urology service.
Another party that presented candidacy four years ago in Faro it was PAN, which once again presents itself to votes, this time with Elza Cunha, also a physician and who is notable for her work in the area of addictive disease and addictions.
In its debut, even because it did not exist in 2017, is CHEGA, which is a candidate for the Chamber Custódio Guerreiro, a businessman in the catering sector.
In the Municipal Assembly of Faro a close fight is also expected, in light of what the results have been over the years.
In 2017, the most voted list was that of the PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM, headed by Cristóvão Norte, who is once again the first candidate of Unidos by Faro to this body.
The also deputy to the Assembly of the Republic of the PSD, elected by the Circle of Faro, was not, even so, elected as president of this body, four years ago, due to to an authentic theater coup, starring one of those elected by the coalition, who did not vote in favor of Cristóvão Norte (he had 13 votes, despite securing 14 seats).
In this way, it was Luís Graça, also a member of the AR, but from the PS, who assumed the presidency.
Luís Graça does not re-apply, but his namesake Luís Coelho, who has been president of both the Chamber and the Municipal Assembly, guarantees that the socialist proposal is headed by someone well known by the Farenses.
The list of the CDU to this body is headed by António Mendonça, who was councilor of the Chamber between 2013 and 2017, that of the Left Block by Célia Gonçalves and that of the PAN by Paulo Baptista, who had already been elected to this body four years ago . CHEGA's top list is António da Luz.
In the parishes, there is a change of cycle in Montenegro, where Steven Piedade, who could no longer re-apply, gave his testimony to Virgínia Alpestana, who is the current president of the municipality. The retired teacher is the coalition candidate United for Faro and will be opposed by Fernando Domingos (PS), Isa Martins (CDU), Abílio Guerreiro (PAN), José Moreira, former municipal deputy (BE) and José Gonçalves (CHEGA).
In the most populous parish in the municipality, Sé and São Pedro (Union of Parishes of Faro), Bruno Lage, current president, re-applies for Unidos for Faro.
This is one of the great points of interest of the electoral dispute in Faro, since it was a parish won by the PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM coalition to the PS in 2017 by a scant 47 votes.
This time, the PS goes to game with the current councilor of the Chamber of Faro Carlos Gordinho, in an attempt to recover this parish. The other lists are headed by Nuno Viana (BE), Carlos Gonçalves (PAN), Filipe Relego (CHEGA) and Ricardo Catarro (CDU).
In Santa Bárbara de Nexe, a communist stronghold, Sérgio Martins, president of the Junta elected by the CDU, is running for his third and last term. Also in the fight are Miguel Rodrigues (CHEGA), Osvaldo Serro (United por Faro), Eduardo Sousa (PS) and Paulo Baptista (PAN), who in addition to being a candidate for AM, is also running for this parish.
In the parish of Conceição and Estoi, the socialist José Jerónimo is once again running for the PS. At the polls, he will face Sara Vítor (CDU), José Oliveira (CHEGA) and Patrícia Cadete (United by Faro)
In 2017, they voted in the council of Faro 26.747 people, out of a universe of 56.524 subscribers, which corresponds to 47,32% of the total (abstention was 52,68%).
The PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM coalition received 43,94% of the votes (5 mandates), the PS 38,06% (4 mandates), the CDU 7,38%, the Bloc 3,06%, the PAN 2,32% and the Candidate of Love 1,83%.
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