“We had the same number of municipalities and increased the number of PSD votes in the district. We lost the Viseu City Hall, the stronghold, the district capital, which was obviously not in our forecasts,” admitted Carlos Santiago.
On Sunday, the PS won the municipal elections again in the district of Viseu, governing eleven of the 24 municipalities, one more than in 2021.
The PSD obtained 27.64% of the district’s votes (up from 25.48% in 2021), winning eight municipalities on its own (Armamar, Nelas, São João da Pesqueira, Sátão, Sernancelhe, Tarouca, Tondela, and Vouzela) and five more in coalition, four with CDS-PP (Castro Daire, Lamego, Oliveira de Frades, and Resende) and one with IL (Santa Comba Dão).
However, it lost Viseu after 36 years of power, with the PS preventing “dinosaur” Fernando Ruas from fulfilling what would have been his last term.
“The people of the Viseu municipality have spoken, democracy has spoken. We must accept the results naturally and congratulate the PS in Viseu, especially the [future] president João Azevedo,” emphasized Carlos Santiago.
In his view, the PSD now needs “a very deep reflection, after all assessments and findings, to continue on course.”
“There is a broad set of projects of great size and importance for the entire district in which President Fernando Ruas played a fundamental and decisive role,” the social-democrat recalled, citing the construction of the Psychiatric Hospital and the Outpatient and Radiotherapy Center and the duplication of the IP3.
Lusa attempted but failed to obtain a comment from the president of the PSD of Viseu regarding the results.
The district leader of the PSD highlighted that, besides maintaining the same number of councils, the party achieved “extraordinary results” in some areas, such as Sernancelhe (78.47% of votes), São João da Pesqueira (75.88%), and Oliveira de Frades (75.59%, in coalition with CDS-PP), where it won all five council seats.
“The PSD is a dynamic party, a party of local power and the people, and we will be here for necessary responses at the right time,” he assured.
In addition to the district capital, there were also party changes in Penedono (from PSD to PS), Resende (from PS to PSD/CDS-PP), Santa Comba Dão (from PS to PSD/IL), Tabuaço (from PSD/CDS-PP to PS), and São João da Pesqueira (from the independent movement Pela Nossa Terra to PSD), with the president remaining the same in the latter municipality.
