Friday saw the head candidate for the Lisbon Municipal Assembly from Volt Portugal, Mateus Carvalho, formally file a complaint requesting the annulment of Chega’s lists for the Lisbon municipal bodies, as stated in a party release.
The candidate argued that Chega has twice had the Constitutional Court render decisions declaring its internal bodies illegal and illegitimate, voiding their authority to deliberate on candidates, as highlighted by Volt.
In the statement, Mateus Carvalho asserted that “as a far-right party, Chega proves to be a party beyond the law, with no regard for the democratic rules that anyone or any party should adhere to.”
The co-founder of the party emphasized that in recent electoral acts, Chega’s lists should have already been deemed invalid.
Underscoring that “this has happened before,” the candidate expressed it is “incomprehensible that we are all, calmly and passively, witnessing this continuous erosion of the rule of law.”
“We must act more in defense of Democracy and the Rule of Law. When parties and politicians wage war against democracy, we must consider the tools available to it. The electoral law is one such tool,” as it permits “the filing of complaints about the irregularities and illegalities of other lists in the electoral circle where they compete,” he argued.
Running for the Lisbon City Council in the municipal elections on October 12 are Alexandra Leitão (PS/Livre/BE/PAN), Carlos Moedas (PSD/CDS-PP/IL), João Ferreira (CDU, PCP/PEV coalition), Ossanda Líber (New Right), Bruno Mascarenhas (Chega), José Almeida (Volt), Adelaide Ferreira (ADN), and Tomaz Ponce Dentinho (Democratic Alliance, PPM/PTP coalition).
The current term (2021-2025) is led by social democrat Carlos Moedas, who governs without an absolute majority, elected by the “New Times” coalition – PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Alliance.
