The announcement was made today at the Hilton Porto Gaia hotel near the Gaia wharf, where Luís Filipe Menezes (PSD), former mayor (1997-2013), is presenting his candidacy for the presidency of the Vila Nova de Gaia City Council (Porto district).
The President of the Honorary Committee for the candidacy, civil engineer Adão da Fonseca, and campaign representative Joaquim Poças Martins, who previously held the same role in Luís Filipe Menezes’s first candidacy in 1997, were also introduced.
During his speech, Paulo Rangel, who entered the packed auditorium alongside Menezes, confirmed that the candidacy will also include the CDS-PP and IL.
“There are moments when we are called to return to our origins, even when we never left them. When we are called to return to the place where we have always been. This act of returning to the point where we have always been is a decision of great magnitude, great demand and, I would say, without sparing words, it is an act of great courage,” said Paulo Rangel at the beginning of his speech.
Considering that “many will think” he was speaking about himself and admitting that this also applies to him, he emphasized that it applies more to Luís Filipe Menezes, who “is returning to the territory from which he never left and where he has always been, and to which his heart belongs by right and by deeds accomplished,” later noting that Gaia has waited “12 long years for the return, with new ideas and a new future, of Luís Filipe Menezes.”
So far, the known candidates for the Gaia City Council elections are João Paulo Correia for the PS, André Araújo for the CDU, Luís Filipe Menezes for the PSD/CDS-PP/IL, and Daniel Gaio for Volt.
The municipal executive is composed of 11 seats, with the PS holding nine and the PSD two.
The municipal elections will take place on October 12.
[Updated at 21:11]
