Luís Montenegro participated today in a campaign dinner supporting the PSD/CDS-PP candidate for the Santarém City Council, João Teixeira Leite, who will replace Ricardo Gonçalves in 2024 after Gonçalves resigned about a year ago to lead the Institute of Sport of Portugal.
Following comments by the local mayor about “the great proximity” with the current PSD/CDS-PP executive being the driver for several ongoing investments and projects in Santarém, Montenegro attributed the “virtuous partnership” with João Teixeira Leite to their shared “values, vision, and determination.”
“There are people here from neighboring municipalities who may be wondering what needs to be done in their areas to enjoy such harmonious investment. Perhaps one solution is to vote for PSD and CDS, perhaps,” he stated.
However, the prime minister promptly assured that the government will not “discriminate” between municipalities, regardless of political affiliation.
“That’s not the reason; the reason is precisely the opposite. It’s not us who differentiate; it’s the mayors of each municipality who do things differently, and these ones do it better,” he said.
As in recent campaign days, Montenegro called for mobilization.
“The strength in this room is immense, the enthusiasm vibrant, the confidence high, but there’s a small issue: elections aren’t today, and not only those in this room will vote; elections are on Sunday, and both those here and those outside will vote,” he said.
Therefore, he urged the more than a thousand supporters present at the dinner to “not waste any moment.”
“Go to the streets, talk to people, explain what this project is, where we come from, where we want to go, and I assure you: on Sunday, we will indeed secure a significant majority in Santarém,” he anticipated.
Montenegro mentioned knowing João Teixeira Leite for about 20 years and issued a message to the PS candidate and Almeirim’s mayor since 2013, Pedro Ribeiro.
“This land is in very good hands; there’s no need to import anything because this land has a much greater export vocation,” he maintained.
Joining the PSD’s national campaign for the first time, CDS-PP president Nuno Melo reiterated that local government is “the greatest achievement of democratic Portugal” and criticized those introducing other themes into the campaign.
“I sincerely believe that those who contaminate local elections with topics unrelated to these elections deeply disrespect local governance,” he declared, without specifying whether he was referring to the prime minister’s family business, Spinumviva, which has returned to the headlines since Tuesday.
Nuno Melo even questioned whom these other themes benefit and provided the answer: “From the start, those who don’t usually elect a councilor, don’t elect a mayor, don’t govern a municipality, and if they don’t invent themes, there’s nothing else to talk about them,” he said, implicitly criticizing Chega.
