“In more than 90% of the largest municipalities in the country, Chega will now play a predominant role in their management. What are we going to do with that power? Sell ourselves to the PSD? We can’t. Sell ourselves to the PS? We can’t. Sell ourselves to the system? We can’t, and this is now our strength and what we must do: show people that it is possible to manage a city council, make municipal decisions without yielding to the interests of these parties, show that we can clean up and stay clean,” stated André Ventura.
The leader of Chega emphasized the necessity for the party to demonstrate it has “capable people” and added that “nothing will be more important than this in the coming years, because a party is also made of its people, its mayors, and its critical mass, and the municipal representatives form the great critical mass of the parties.”
“I believe that our mayors now have a fundamental mission, those who are leaders in the municipal assembly, in city councils, in parishes… Chega now has a fundamental mission, to show the country that it is ready,” he asserted.
André Ventura was speaking at the outdoor area of a restaurant near the Loures city park (Lisbon district), in front of dozens of mayors elected by Chega in this municipality and in Odivelas.
“We must be able to gain the confidence that we are truly going to transform the country. And that is up to us and up to the mayors of this party to do,” he stressed.
Ventura noted that his mayors “have an increased responsibility” to “govern without corruption.”
“It is about being able to govern or look at people without worrying about their circles of personal, business interests, etc. But also showing that for the first time we can cut where it needs to be cut,” he argued.
He issued a warning: “We have to make that difference. People will not forgive us if we now do the same thing that others have done for 50 years.”
“This cleaning we’ve been talking about for years has to start in the municipalities, and your work now is to carry out this cleaning, even if this involves your neighbor, even if it involves your friend,” he urged, calling for “zero tolerance.”
André Ventura also indicated that he expects Chega to hold a “major meeting of mayors” soon.
The Chega leader acknowledged that the party’s performance in the last municipal elections was not as desired, but he considered it was still “a great result” and that “Chega was by far the party that grew the most in these municipal elections.”
Earlier, Bruno Nunes, a deputy and re-elected councillor in the Loures City Council, also delivered a message to the elected mayors: “Firm until the end, no one sells out.”
“We are the leader of the opposition, and it is as the opposition leader in the municipalities that we will remain. On our part, there is no agreement, on our part, there is nothing to negotiate, we just want to face them within the municipal assemblies and the parish assembly, supervise, supervise, supervise as the president usually says, work, work, work. Nobody falls, nobody is left behind, nobody sells out, we will all stay until the end defending the colors that elected us and respecting the popular vote that was given to us,” he emphasized.
The official recognized that the party’s outcome in this municipality and in Odivelas in the municipal elections “was not the present” that the candidates wanted to give, as the goal was to win, and expressed hope that this will be possible in the next elections.
“We wanted to take the first place, but in both municipalities, we practically annihilated communism, we came in second place, ahead of the PSD, very, very, very far behind,” he noted.
