The Popular Monarchist Party’s (PPM) secretary-general, Paulo Estêvão, announced their candidacy’s aim to elect at least one councilor and establish a municipal group, following the deadline for submitting lists for the local elections on October 12.
The electoral program will be presented early next week.
“The Democratic Alliance (AD) is a coalition between the PPM and the PTP […]. It is a political proposal that reflects the PPM’s historical contribution to the AD, which was founded in 1979 alongside PSD and CDS-PP and consistently used by these three parties until the legislative elections of May 2025,” explained the monarchist leader, outlining the party’s version of the AD in collaboration with the laborists.
The announcement uses both “Democratic Alliance — PPM/PTP Coalition” and “Democratic Alliance (AD)” designations.
The PPM insists on using the “AD” acronym, asserting the “reformist and ecological spirit” of the “AD by Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles, the creator of the National Agricultural Reserve and the National Ecological Reserve, which included extensive plans for a green and sustainable Lisbon.”
Ribeiro Telles’ office, where he served as Minister of State and Quality of Life in the 1980s, was one of the teams joined by Tomaz Ponce Dentinho, 66, native of Lisbon, in his professional career.
“He was there from the beginning and has an incomparably superior academic and civic track record than those now claiming AD representation,” wrote Paulo Estêvão.
The lead candidate, a Master’s in Economics, with a Ph.D. and postgraduate in Environmental Economics, collaborates with the Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, Romania, and is the president of the Association for Science and Development of the Azores, founded in 2013.
He also presided over the Portuguese Association for Regional Development and held other positions, publishing “over 100 scientific articles” in national and international journals on regional economy, environmental economy, and agricultural economy.
The coalition of monarchists and laborists is the eighth candidacy announced in Lisbon following that of Alexandra Leitão (PS/Livre/BE/PAN), Carlos Moedas (PSD/CDS-PP/IL), João Ferreira (CDU), Ossanda Líber (Nova Direita), Bruno Mascarenhas (Chega), José Almeida (Volt), and Adelaide Ferreira (ADN).
The current term (2021-2025) sees the city council led by social democrat Carlos Moedas, governing without an absolute majority, elected through the “Novos Tempos” coalition – PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Aliança.
The right-wing coalition and the “Mais Lisboa” list (PS/Livre) both hold seven seats, while CDU (PCP/PEV) holds two, and BE one.
This year, within the framework of the national legislative elections in May, the Constitutional Court rejected the use of the “AD – Democratic Alliance – PSD/CDS” designation by the joint social democrat and Christian democrat lists, which ran under the name “AD – PSD/CDS Coalition.”
The court determined that the initial name could mislead voters due to the “temporal proximity between legislative acts, about one year,” in light of the national elections of 2024, when the coalition also included the PPM.
