“It’s a bittersweet feeling. On one hand, we regain the majority of district council presidencies, but the major setback of the night is the result in Coimbra,” Paulo Leitão stated.
In the local elections, the PSD achieved the majority of municipalities in Coimbra by securing nine out of the 17 councils but lost the district capital to a coalition led by the PS, a party that reduced its control from nine to five municipalities.
Paulo Leitão expressed the need for “careful analysis” regarding the loss in the district capital, where the PSD led a coalition headed by José Manuel Silva, who was running for re-election after achieving an absolute majority in 2021 against Manuel Machado (PS).
“Looking at the raw results, there was a significant concentration of votes on the left. It seems the left’s strategic voting worked, and we need to understand the impact of this useful vote on the results we were expecting,” he said.
Regarding the municipalities taken from the PS (Miranda do Corvo and Lousã), Paulo Leitão remarked that “there were no surprises.”
The PSD, with the exception of Coimbra, successfully re-elected all incumbents (Góis, Pampilhosa da Serra, Arganil, Cantanhede, and Penacova) and additionally won in Mira (the current president assumed office two years ago) and Figueira da Foz, re-electing Santana Lopes, who in 2021 had captured the municipality through an independent movement.
Despite holding a majority in the district (nine out of 17 municipalities), the Social Democrats only have a relative majority in the Intermunicipal Community of the Region of Coimbra – CIMRC (which also includes the municipalities of Mealhada, district of Aveiro, and Mortágua, district of Viseu).
“The nine are not enough to ensure a majority because we are talking about nine for the PSD, six for the PS, and the remaining four by independent movements. There will now be a period of dialogue and necessary consensus will be generated for the governance of the CIM, which has a history of reaching understandings,” he said.
Nevertheless, the district’s expectation is that PSD might lead the CIMRC, which has always been headed “by the political force with more council presidents,” he clarified.
In the district of Coimbra, the PS reduced its number of controlled municipalities from nine to five (losing three to independent movements, two to PSD, and reclaiming one council from the Social Democrats).
