Several mayors elected in Sunday’s local elections have ongoing legal processes and criminal investigations, while others will take office after being convicted or acquitted by the courts.
In the district of Braga, Victor Hugo Salgado, who is under investigation for alleged domestic violence against his wife, won the Vizela municipality with an absolute majority through the independent movement Vizela Sempre. The national PS withdrew political support following this investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).
Paulo Esteves Ferreira (PS), who secured a relative majority in Valongo, Porto district, was named a suspect in February this year for allegedly receiving inducements in McDonald’s restaurant implementation and licensing processes.
The future Valongo president, along with outgoing mayor José Manuel Ribeiro, will face trial due to a complaint from Recivalongo against the municipality for blocking access to the Sobrado landfill for trucks carrying over 3.5 tons of waste in July 2020.
The decision to restrict traffic on Municipal Road 606 was justified by the executive led by Ribeiro, where Ferreira was vice-president, citing “public interest following exposures and complaints received.”
In the North, Margarida Belém (PS) was elected with an absolute majority in Arouca, Aveiro district. She was convicted in 2024 to a suspended sentence of one year and three months for document falsification.
The case involved the paving of a road segment during the 2017 local elections, ordered by then-mayor José Artur Neves with the agreement of then-vice president Margarida Belém, who later succeeded him.
In the Autonomous Region of Madeira, Rui Marques, who previously served as Ponta do Sol mayor for 12 years, was re-elected on Sunday with an absolute majority by the PSD/CDS-PP coalition. He is accused by the MP of misconduct, economic participation in business, and abuse of power.
The process, currently in the instruction phase, deals with alleged irregularities in hundreds of municipal licensing works.
Regarding acquittals, António Silva Tiago was re-elected by the PSD/CDS-PP coalition with an absolute majority after being acquitted this year, along with his predecessor Bragança Fernandes (PSD) and four others, in a case involving alleged misappropriation of funds.
Silva Tiago, who succeeded Fernandes in October 2017, was tried for embezzlement for authorizing certain payments, but was acquitted along with the other defendants, and the MP did not appeal.
The MP alleged that five of the six defendants, including Fernandes and a councilor, presented 433 expenses to municipal services through a fraudulent invoice payment scheme, but all were acquitted.
In the south, in Portalegre district, Luís Vitorino (PSD) won the Marvão mayoral office with an absolute majority after the Évora Court of Appeal absolved him in June this year from a suspended three-year prison sentence and loss of mandate for passive corruption, imposed in 2022.
The alleged crime involved a ProDer program application—Forest Defence against Fires—but he was acquitted by the Évora Court of Appeal, allowing him to run in Sunday’s elections.
