The Chega party has appealed a decision, with the case currently under the consideration of the reporting judge, as informed by the Constitutional Court (TC) regarding the upcoming vote recount process of the local elections held on October 12, to be conducted by the general counting assembly of the Lisbon council.
Bruno Mascarenhas, the first councilman elected for Chega to the Lisbon City Council, expressed his disagreement with a recent court ruling involving an appeal by the CDU (PCP/PEV coalition) which validated a previously nullified vote from the Santa Maria Maior parish in favor of CDU.
“There are six prior TC rulings that contradict the decision regarding the vote validated for the CDU,” said Bruno Mascarenhas, criticizing the move as an error that indicates partiality.
The same ruling also annulled another vote that had been awarded to Chega in the Lisbon City Council election.
Chega was initially ahead of CDU by three votes, a lead reduced from 11 votes, now narrowed to just one vote according to the TC.
The vote difference between Chega and CDU is crucial for the election of councilors in the Lisbon City Council, with the leading party securing two mandates, while the other gains only one. If Chega is confirmed as the third most-voted list, following PSD/CDS-PP/IL and PS/Livre/BE/PAN, the CDU would lose a communist councilor in the capital compared to the two elected in 2021.
The “recounting of votes from polling section No. 28 in the São Domingos de Benfica parish, for the Lisbon City Council election” has yet to be scheduled.
The National Election Commission (CNE) stated that it is unaware of the scheduled date for the recount, reaffirming the urgency of election procedures.
Awaiting the vote recount, the Chega representative reinforced the reopening of the election counting process.
“We are learning a lot from this process. We feel somehow deceived as our count throughout the results tally indicated Chega was well ahead of CDU. Our surprise came when the published results showed a reduction to just three votes difference, contradicting the 11 or even 17 to 18 votes we expected,” Mascarenhas stated.
He noted the party did not initially react as it still appeared to have won, explaining that winning by one vote is equivalent to winning by 30. The lead candidate for Chega suggested potential oversight due to continuous maneuvers by CDU on this matter, emphasizing the party’s advantage dwindled from 11 votes to just a one-vote difference following the TC’s ruling.
On October 12, social democrat Carlos Moedas was re-elected as the mayor of the Lisbon City Council under the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition with 41.69% of the votes, defeating socialist Alexandra Leitão (PS/Livre/BE/PAN) who garnered 33.95%.
