“The important thing is to celebrate democracy. This is an incident; it is not the main issue of the day. The main issue is people going to vote, and I hope that the levels of abstention continue to decrease. Therefore, whatever the outcome, we can celebrate democracy once again tonight,” said Miguel Coelho, elected by the Socialist Party (PS), this afternoon to journalists.
The president of the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior explained that the insults and aggression occurred while he was visiting polling stations in Alfama to ensure that “everything was functioning well logistically.”
“I visit polling stations on election day to ensure everything is logistically sound and to understand the level of turnout. At the third location I visited in Alfama, there was an individual in the voting line who pointed a finger at me, called me names, and said I was a friend of ‘monhés.’ He said he votes for Chega and accused me of being a friend of ‘monhés,’ and threatened me,” Coelho recounted to journalists, repeating the racist insults aimed at an ethnic group in a derogatory manner.
Miguel Coelho stated that he downplayed the incident because sometimes people “overstep,” but he added that as he was preparing to leave, the alleged attacker hit him on the face, causing him to fall, as he explained.
Coelho added that an employee of the Parish Council of Santa Maria Maior, who was working near the polling table where the insults and aggression occurred, defended him.
In a phone interview with Lusa, Miguel Coelho mentioned having “many witnesses” to the incident in Alfama and noted that he knows the person who attacked and insulted him, stating that he has filed a police report.
Miguel Coelho posted a short message on his personal Facebook page, stating that he was assaulted by an individual who shouted that he was a voter of the Chega party and insulted him using racist and discriminatory language for being a “friend” of a certain ethnic group.
