The declarations from the former leading candidate for the district council of Aveiro and the Porto Metropolitan Area come following the PSD national body’s intervention in the candidacy process, with Jorge Ratola, a former vice-president of Aveiro’s City Council and current aide to the Prime Minister, presented as an alternative candidate last week.
“The party was used by its president for a personal vendetta targeting me directly with the sole purpose of politically eliminating me,” states Ricardo Sousa. “The PSD is a cornerstone of the democratic regime, with over 50 years of history, it cannot be used as an instrument of personal retribution or to fulfill family whims,” he adds.
Ricardo Sousa recalls being unanimously chosen as a candidate in November 2024 by the PSD’s local council he presided over, confirmed in February at a member assembly he describes as “the most attended in the last 30 years”—where, even after the national body’s opposition was revealed, his name received “61 votes in favor, nine abstentions, and no votes against.”
Thus, the former candidate asserts that the proceedings which rendered his candidacy unviable “not only set a serious precedent but are absolutely unprecedented in Espinho,” where “since 1976, the local council’s decision was always respected”—including during Montenegro’s own selection in 2001, even amidst “major divisions and opposing votes, the political committee’s will was respected.”
Ricardo Sousa emphasizes that local members adhered to “objective criteria” in selecting him as the head of the list for the 2025 local elections.
“I have a political and civic track record that speaks for itself. I was a councilor in Espinho for 12 years, served as an aide in the government led by Pedro Passos Coelho, and was chief of staff for Espinho’s Mayor [Pinto Moreira] for two years, leaving of my own accord. I also served as a deputy elected from my district in the XV Legislature,” he mentions.
Conceding that “only a very strong reason could lead to, for the first time in history, the bases’ will not being respected,” the former candidate claims: “There was a need to ensure the removal of Ricardo Sousa and, for that, means were fabricated to justify the end.”
Among examples cited, the Espinho Social Democrat leader notes that the PSD national body presented “a supposed survey conducted in October 2024,” which he had no access to and where Jorge Ratola’s name did not appear. He also highlights alternative invites made to figures like “Salvador Malheiro, Miguel Guimarães, or Nelson Couto,” which resulted in “everyone’s refusal, given the manifest unreasonableness with which the process was being managed.”
In Ricardo Sousa’s view, it was after this that “the party president, in desperation, chose an aide from his office.”
He expresses regret that the PSD national decision hinders “any understanding with the IL and CDS-PP,” precisely when Espinho is embroiled “in suspicions and controversies” due to the Vortex case and it was “essential” for the Social Democrats to widen their electoral base. The former candidate asserts: “All this work over months was thrown away because the party president will not allow a candidate he cannot absolutely control, making it clear that he favors subservience and abhors independence.”
Still, “open to dialogue,” Ricardo Sousa reports requesting clarifications from the PSD National Political Commission regarding the reasons for not endorsing the candidate nominated by the local party section. He also requested the minutes of the meeting where that decision was made. “Not finding plausible reasons for what is happening, (…) we want to understand on what political and statutory basis this decision was made,” he concludes.
The Espinho elections on October 12th already have announced candidacies: Jorge Ratola for the PSD, Pilar Gomes for the CDU, Luís Canelas for the PS, and Maria Manuel Cruz as an independent—who, even as the current mayor following Miguel Reis’s resignation in 2023, dissociated from the party as it chose to support councilor Luís Canelas instead.
The Espinho municipal executive currently consists of seven members: Maria Manuel Cruz, Leonor Lêdo Fonseca, and Lurdes Rebelo for PS; Luís Canelas, elected for the PS but now without portfolios after the president withdrew political support; and Lurdes Ganicho, João Passos, and Hélder Rodrigues for the PSD.
