On the night of the 12th, after the polls close, “I think there will be several people with long faces, but the Liberal Initiative certainly won’t be one of them,” as “I think we’re going to have very good results,” stated Mariana Leitão today in Viana do Castelo.
Shortly after learning how the “cabezudos” from Viana do Castelo are made, visiting a traditional pastry shop known for its Berlin balls, and just a day before the end of the election campaign, Mariana Leitão expressed confidence in the results for a party running for the second time in the municipal elections without any councilors elected.
During the campaign, the leaders’ tour around the country “is very important” to “know well and more deeply the various realities and the problems people face daily” to “meet the solutions that will solve their problems,” she pointed out.
“Obviously, we are also responsible,” she added, emphasizing that local candidacies bind the national leadership of the parties.
“This is a political party that includes national and local structures, but obviously we are also responsible for the results of all electoral acts,” stated Mariana Leitão, who hopes to elect councilors in solo candidacies, apart from those in coalition where they have more chances (Porto, Lisbon, or Gondomar).
Mariana Leitão expressed confidence that the IL will “manage to elect councilors in several municipalities with their own candidacies,” such as in Braga, Setúbal, or Oeiras.
The liberal president spoke alongside the liberal candidate for the Viana do Castelo city council, Duarte Antunes.
“We have the conviction that we will indeed manage to elect councilors in our own candidacies and that they will make all the difference in those municipalities where we will indeed manage to have the Liberal Initiative exercising power in local councils,” she added.
Earlier, Mariana Leitão visited the workshop of artisan Manuel Valença, the creator of Viana’s cabezudos, where she helped stick some cardboard strips onto a piece.
Looking at a shelf in the garage where the artisan works, Mariana Leitão pointed to a piece that “reminds me of Pinocchio.”
A character she “associates with several politicians who often have trouble telling the truth about the country’s situation,” she said.
“I won’t name them,” but “it’s a way of doing politics that we don’t share,” stated the liberal leader, who included the visit to the atelier to demonstrate the “importance of Portuguese traditions,” which is “essential to preserve.”
