The local branch of BE has criticized Marco Almeida and the PSD for choosing to govern with Chega, stating in a communiqué that such a decision contradicts their previous stance and undermines voter trust in the PSD/IL/PAN coalition, initially formed to prevent the far-right’s ascendancy. They accuse the coalition of forsaking democratic principles for power.
The Sintra Bloc further asserts that the Liberal Initiative, despite being aware since August of Almeida’s intentions to include Chega, is also culpable. The party is accused of attempting to save face by now withdrawing political confidence from their lead candidate.
“The entry of the far-right into local governance is not a minor detail nor accidental—it’s a deliberate choice that tolerates hate speech, exclusion, and xenophobia,” stated the Bloc, emphasizing that the PSD and IL-elected councilwoman Eunice Baeta are showing a willingness to align with those who regularly attack women’s rights, immigrants, minorities, and workers.
Councilwoman Rita Matias from Chega is also noted for her reluctance to assume executive responsibilities, opting instead to remain comfortably in parliament and expand her political influence.
“This reflects the seriousness of the agreement: a backroom arrangement that ensures positions and influence but avoids public service obligations and municipal work. Sintra deserves more than phantom councilwomen serving propaganda and extremism,” they argue.
The BE also criticizes the political maneuvering, pointing out it’s unacceptable for the management of the Municipal Water and Sanitation Services (SMAS) to be handed to the husband of the IL-elected councilwoman.
“The PSD and the IL councilwoman use the local government to extend their networks of influence and favors, turning public roles into spaces of political collusion,” said the Bloc, adding that this decision, besides being an affront to transparency and ethics, opens the door to the SMAS’s privatization, which has been proven to be more costly and less effective for residents in other municipalities.
BE’s municipal coordination highlighted that the issue is not only the executive’s composition but also the democratic future of the region, warning that Sintra’s governance with the far-right threatens fundamental values of equality, solidarity, and respect for diversity.
“It risks social progress and public service defense. It undermines public trust in a local government that should serve everyone, not as a stage for shady deals and understandings,” they emphasized.
The municipal executive approved today, in its first meeting, with six votes in favor and four against, and councilwoman Eunice Baeta absent at the time, Marco Almeida’s proposal to appoint Rui Caetano as president of the SMAS administration council, with Paulo Gomes and Rui Covas Simões as members.
Rui Caetano, a graduate of the Lisbon Higher Institute of Engineering, served as a CDS-PP member of the Assembly of the Republic, led the municipal company HPEM – Public Hygiene from 2002 to 2011, and was part of the Sintra Municipal Parking Company (EMES) from 2011 to 2014.
Councilwoman Eunice Baeta, who refrained from commenting on IL’s political confidence withdrawal over the agreement with Chega in the executive, told Lusa that Rui Caetano “worked over 10 years with Professor [Fernando] Seara and Dr. Marco Almeida,” and the invitation was made to him “directly” “long before IL formed a coalition with the PSD.”
“His past service to the municipality 10 years ago more than proves that he doesn’t need to depend on anyone to secure a position,” noted the councilwoman, expressing regret that the Left Bloc “questions the competence of a person” like Rui Caetano.
“His resume speaks for itself, I don’t need to elaborate,” she concluded.
