During his only stop in the Algarve campaign trail, Paulo Raimundo visited Faro this morning to participate in a street walk where he encountered the last CDU councilor in the city, António Mendonça, who served from 2013 to 2017.
After exchanging greetings, Mendonça took the opportunity to pass the baton to the coalition’s new candidate, lawyer Duarte Baltazar.
“I am convinced he will take on [the responsibility] and be a good councilor. We are confident and determined to get there,” Mendonça told Paulo Raimundo, with the PCP’s general secretary affirming that he has “no doubt” that Duarte Baltazar will be a good councilor.
Speaking to journalists, Paulo Raimundo stated that the “tone was set” for his brief visit to the Algarve: to recover the councilor seat that CDU hasn’t secured in Faro since 2017.
Throughout the walk, Raimundo and Baltazar distributed leaflets, entered shops, and spoke with passersby. In one café, the PCP general secretary was asked by a woman why she should vote for the CDU since “all politicians are the same.”
“I won’t accept the stereotype that all are the same, but I understand your opinion,” Raimundo replied, with the woman insisting that it might not be true, “but you know it’s the truth.”
“I don’t believe that. It would be unfortunate if it were so,” responded Raimundo, in a district where Chega took a notable lead in the last elections with nearly 34% of the vote. Raimundo declined to discuss the party, deferring any comments to a visit planned later in the day to the Alentejo town of Moura, where André Ventura was elected as a local deputy but missed 30 meetings.
Later in the walk, Raimundo met two university students from Faro: Júlio, who is studying biomedical laboratory sciences, complained about the state of transport in the Algarve and the lack of affordable housing.
“We will not promise to solve everything,” Raimundo replied while emphasizing that CDU aims to elect Duarte Baltazar in Faro to bring “these issues a voice in the Municipal Chamber.”
At the conclusion of the walk, before several CDU supporters, Raimundo urged militants not to be intimidated by the “propaganda and means” used by opponents.
The general secretary warned that Faro’s population is being “pushed towards three seemingly different paths that lead to the same principle and choice”, referring to the candidacies of Cristóvão Norte (PSD/IL/CDS-PP/PAN), António Miguel Pina (PS), and Pedro Pinto (Chega).
“It would be absurd for the people of Faro to be destined for three paths that ultimately lead to the same place of speculation and business, serving a political agenda favoring a few. We are here to offer an alternative to these three paths,” he stated.
Raimundo highlighted that over the past eight years, the municipality led by PSD has only pursued “business, speculation,” tightening “the life of the majority,” advocating for a CDU councilor to ensure the “people’s voice” is represented in the Municipal Chamber.
“Let’s not be overcome by propaganda, illusion, lies, demagoguery, and the hatred of others,” he urged.
