“Our will is to increase the number of elected officials. We have already made a significant achievement in having more and more candidates in local elections,” but “now we want to expand; we want to elect councilors, more municipal deputies, more parish deputies, elect parish executives; that is our objective,” summarized Mariana Leitão, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a rally marking the start of the official local election campaign for the October 12 elections.
In Castelo Branco, the current mayor is running again under the Socialist Party (PS), but there is an independent list led by a former socialist vice-president, supported by local PSD and CDS and former socialist mayor Luís Correia.
“Even I am confused,” Mariana Leitão said, commenting on the speech she read at the rally in Monte do Índio, in the city center.
“For 28 years, Castelo Branco has been governed by the same socialist stronghold. Today, the re-candidate president is from the PS, but on the other side there’s a PSD-CDS coalition presenting with an independent movement and a former… socialist president,” she told supporters, considering this a “portrait of local politics.”
“A closed circle, the same faces, the same ideas, the same lack of ambition,” she summarized.
“This game of musical chairs is proof that there is only one candidacy representing true change in Castelo Branco: the Iniciativa Liberal,” she added.
“Castelo Branco has been stuck for too long in a cycle that doesn’t open doors to the future,” she argued, considering that, “for decades, the young have left the county, some to the coast, others abroad, because they don’t find opportunities here.”
“Salaries are low, qualified employment is scarce, local commerce suffers because purchasing power is weak, and there is no strategy to create lasting wealth. This reality is not inevitable; it is the result of poor political choices,” added Mariana Leitão.
In Castelo Branco, the IL presents pharmacist José Henriques as the candidate for the local council presidency.
