Isaltino Morais, supported by the PSD, declared, “We showed our face, we didn’t hide from anyone, we confronted ourselves in the street with people who criticized us, who gave us suggestions, who praised us, we listened to everyone and the response was this: the greatest victory ever,” in a televised address.
Running for the 11th time for the presidency of the Municipal Chamber of Oeiras, in the Lisbon district, Morais expressed his gratitude for the “extraordinary confidence” displayed by voters in Sunday’s local elections, emphasizing the “great responsibility” that comes with the new mandate.
“They gave us an absolute majority in the Chamber, they gave us an absolute majority in the Municipal Assembly, they gave us an absolute majority in all parishes,” he noted.
In the last local elections, held in 2021, Isaltino Morais received 50.86% of the votes, corresponding to eight terms.
At that time, the PS, with 10.52% of the votes, elected one councilor, as did the PSD/MPT coalition, which obtained 7.91%.
The Evoluir Oeiras coalition (Block of the Left, Livre, and Volt Portugal) also elected one councilor with 7.27%.
Isaltino Morais, who also served as Minister of Cities, Territorial Planning, and Environment, was first elected president of the Oeiras Chamber in 1985 on PSD lists, renewing the mandate in the 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2001 elections.
In 2005 (when he was a defendant in a legal case) and 2009, he won again as an independent, but suspended his mandate in 2013 to serve a sentence, after being convicted of tax fraud and money laundering.
Twelve years later – and months after confirming he was invited by the PSD to join the party lists, which he declined – he re-ran for the municipality as an independent and won again, as well as in the 2021 elections.
Due to the term limit law, this year’s local elections were the last in which he could run in the municipality.
In Sunday’s elections, the PS/PAN coalition received 11.29% of the votes, ensuring one mandate, while Chega achieved 8.48% of the votes and secured representation in the executive for the first time.
The Evoluir Oeiras movement (BE/Livre/Volt) garnered 6.34% of the votes and failed to elect any councilor, losing its sole mandate.
