The municipal executive approved, by secret ballot, a proposal by Mayor Carlos Moedas (PSD) and Vice-President Gonçalo Reis (PSD) to appoint the municipality’s representative to the general assembly of Companhia Carris de Ferro de Lisboa and the company’s board members.
Socialist Party councilors abstained from the vote, citing a lack of transparency and insufficient explanations from Moedas regarding the process.
The executive appointed the vice-president as the council’s representative at the general assembly, mandating him to elect President Rui Lopo (11 votes in favor and three abstentions) and Ana Paula Carioca and Francisco Pinto Machado as vice-presidents of Carris.
The administration will also include executive board member Mariana de Sousa Costa and non-executive member Teresa Passo de Sousa. The general assembly table will be presided over by Helena Pires Coelho, with Pedro Brito Dinis as vice-president and José Miguel Bibe as secretary.
In a prior statement, Moedas explained that Rui Lopo is a clear choice for his proven experience in the mobility sector at a metropolitan level, advocating for the company’s future and addressing Carris’s challenges.
The administrator at Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML) has played a decisive role in coordinating and overseeing Carris Metropolitana, the Navegante pass, and multiple public road transport operations in the Lisbon region in recent years, the statement noted.
Alexandra Leitão’s Socialist Party clarified their absence from the vote was unrelated to the individuals or profiles involved, focusing instead on the process’s handling after the September 3 incident involving the derailing of the Elevador da Glória, which resulted in 16 deaths and over 20 injuries.
“From the outset, the PS rejected any political exploitation of the accident, including calls for resignation, advocating exclusively for a complete clarification of all facts within Lisbon’s City Council. This has yet to occur,” the socialists stated.
Bruno Mascarenhas, a Chega councilor absent from the country, told Lusa, “Carris’s administration was validated by Chega votes,” acknowledging much needs changing within the company.
“Ongoing investigations are not being questioned regarding the responsibilities of the previous administration or the resigned board after the Elevador da Glória tragedy,” Mascarenhas explained.
Communist Party councilor João Ferreira’s office stated that the PCP does not typically block municipal management and, given the necessity to elect a new board due to the previous one’s resignation under known circumstances, chose to abstain.
According to the PCP, any administration operates within the parameters of municipal management’s political options, and Carris has not provided the necessary public service level essential for city mobility in recent years.
Councilor Joana Alves Pereira explained that Livre voted in favor of Rui Lopo due to his transport expertise in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area but stressed that effective leadership requires political and financial support.
“This support was lacking in the last term, characterized by decisions that objectively harmed public transport in Lisbon and were marred by the terrible Elevador da Glória accident, with no political accountability accepted,” she noted, questioning the appointment of the vice-president’s chief of staff, responsible for Mobility at the accident’s time, as Carris’s vice-president.
Bloco de Esquerda, represented by councilor Ricardo Moreira, described the move as Moedas’s attempt to obscure errors from the Elevador da Glória incident by appointing a new administration without addressing them.
The BE criticized introducing a new Carris administration without the mayor presenting explanations for the procedural errors identified by GPIAAF that might have contributed to the tragedy.
