Paulo Raimundo addressed a rally this afternoon in the parish of Quinta do Conde, Sesimbra. The municipality has been predominantly led by PCP-led coalitions since the 25th of April, but in the last legislative elections, Chega emerged prominently, securing 31% of the votes, while the CDU was placed sixth with 5%.
Speaking before several dozen supporters, Paulo Raimundo noted that the campaign has been marked by “a lot of lies, demagoguery, smuggling, and often excessive personal attacks” targeted at the coalition.
“But all these lies, all this demagoguery, all these personal attacks, all this hatred, which often surfaces, clash against the work done, against the connection of the Municipal Council with the associative movement, collectives, and the populations,” he stated.
Raimundo emphasized that these attacks primarily collide “with the sentiment of the populations” who feel they are “builders and protagonists of the work” that the CDU is executing in Sesimbra.
“And we can say that the ill words remain and will remain trapped in their teeth compared to the concrete options, what’s done, what’s in progress, what’s projected, and that we will indeed accomplish because we will win the Municipal Council of Sesimbra again, we will strengthen the votes here in the municipality,” Raimundo declared.
The PCP’s secretary-general expressed first-hand awareness that the scrutiny faced by the CDU “is not the same as with others.”
“The people do not forgive us for mistakes. Thankfully. The people do not forgive us for slips. Thankfully. And the people do not forgive us for selling the territory, which belongs to everyone, piecemeal, to big interests. Here, we can continue to say, with our heads held high: here, there are no slips, there is no municipality sliced up to sell to big interests,” he asserted.
Raimundo acknowledged “how desirable the municipality of Sesimbra is” but stressed that, as far as the CDU is concerned, “Sesimbra and Quinta do Conde will continue to be in the hands of the people, and only at the service of the people and no other interest, whatever it may be, no matter its strength.”
Later, the PCP’s secretary-general mentioned a question posed to him in the morning by a journalist during an event in Viana do Alentejo regarding whether the CDU’s goal was to “secure” that Alentejan municipality in the local elections.
“Here in Sesimbra, here in Quinta do Conde, we are not here to hold on to anything. We are here to grow, to continue developing this work, to do what needs to be done to meet the populations’ needs. And we are not holding on. We are here to grow with the populations,” he stated, receiving applause from the dozens present at the rally in Quinta do Conde square.
Prior to Paulo Raimundo, the current Mayor of Sesimbra, Francisco Jesus, who is running for re-election, emphasized that with just over a week before the local elections, this is not the time “to debate with others what they promise or do not promise” but rather to “urge people to vote.”
Listing a set of priorities for the CDU for the next term, including building a new school from the second to the sixth cycle and reducing the metropolitan pass to 30 euros, Francisco Jesus called for a “useful vote.”
“Today, if we want to ensure the maintenance of democratic municipalities within the values of April, given the disinformation and hatred, it is necessary that the useful vote also goes to those who defend the values of April. And the useful vote is for the CDU,” he said.
