Two days before the end of the campaign for the local elections, Paulo Raimundo participated in a street march in Beja, a municipality traditionally led by PCP-led coalitions until 2017, when it was taken over by the PS.
At the start of the march, accompanied by the CDU’s candidate for Beja City Hall, Vítor Picado, the PCP leader encountered two workers digging a hole in the pavement. Seizing the opportunity after advising them to “be careful with the oil,” Paulo Raimundo criticized the PS administration.
“It’s a governance full of holes, as we saw there, and stagnant. We need to restore Beja to its previous path, which was disrupted,” said the PCP leader, expressing he would take particular pleasure in reclaiming the municipality this coming Sunday.
In a city where several competitors, including Chega, have expressed a desire to win in Beja, Paulo Raimundo remarked that “everyone can believe” in taking over the municipality, ironically adding that “dreams drive life,” but emphasized that only the CDU was in a position to unseat the socialists.
“For those wanting change here in Beja, there is only one option: vote for the CDU, the force within reach that can effect this change, due to its proximity to the people, its vote count, and the percentage it starts with in this race,” he stated.
Throughout the march, Paulo Raimundo attempted to introduce the CDU’s candidate for the municipality but was largely unsuccessful, as most people already knew Vítor Picado, who served as vice-president of the City Hall between 2013 and 2017 and as a councilor since 2009.
“He is the most well-known councilor,” a shopkeeper told Paulo Raimundo, with the PCP leader responding that next time he visits Beja, Vítor Picado should introduce him instead.
Later during the walk, the PCP leader met another store owner who confessed to having previously voted for other political forces, implying to a journalist that it might have been Chega, but this time she would vote for the CDU.
At the end of the march, in a speech in the city center, Paulo Raimundo remarked that the walk seemed to be “the conclusive proof” of what he has been saying throughout the campaign: that, on one hand, CDU candidates are close to the populations and, on the other hand, local elections are different from legislative ones.
“Regardless of national voting options, regardless of different party preferences at the national level, when it comes to local elections, hundreds, thousands of people who know us here trust their vote to the CDU. We have the testimonial proof of that,” he noted.
Vítor Picado also spoke at the end of the march, accusing the national government of having “decreed the decline” of the Beja region, promising that if the CDU wins the municipality, it will demand “the public investments that are long overdue here.”
“The PSD/CDS government has disappointed the expectations of the municipality and the region. Not long ago, it was announced that 80 million euros were reserved for the railway. We know from a reliable source that 60 million are to be withdrawn. This cannot happen again,” he argued, emphasizing that “Beja must resume the path of development.”
