The CDU (Democratic Unity Coalition, combining PCP and PEV) and other political parties have filed a complaint against the Lisbon City Council (CML, led by the ‘New Times’ coalition of PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/PPM/Alliance) for the removal of propaganda displayed along the central axis of Avenida da República, between Praça de Entrecampos and Praça do Duque de Saldanha.
The National Elections Commission (CNE) concluded, by majority vote, that “municipal or other bodies do not have the authority to regulate the exercise of freedom of propaganda” and “public entities can only remove movable propaganda means (…) when ordered by a competent court.”
In the CNE’s view, “the propaganda, in the described situations, is legitimate under current law, which can only be amended by the Assembly of the Republic.”
Therefore, it was determined that “the removal of propaganda by Lisbon City Council is not supported by applicable legal provisions.”
“The propaganda, in the described situations, is legitimate under current law, which can only be amended by the Assembly of the Republic,” the PCP noted, describing the actions of Carlos Moedas’ administration as “undemocratic and illegal.”
Highlighting that “the removal of political propaganda panels of the PCP and other political forces in Marquês de Pombal and Alameda” has occurred in the past, the communists criticized Carlos Moedas for having “profound contempt for democratic legality” and “repeated disrespect for the law and the freedom of expression, propaganda, and political action enshrined in it.”
The CNE also referenced in the minutes that a similar situation “had already taken place in the past and received a decision (…) notified to the Lisbon City Council.”
In a press release, the PCP noted that, along the same axis, “there are several commercial advertising and institutional propaganda posters of the CML.”
On June 3, following the decision by the Lisbon Administrative Court to accept a precautionary measure from PAN to restore party posters in the city’s central axis, Carlos Moedas vowed to appeal.
“I will do everything possible not to restore the party posters in the city’s central axis,” he promised in a written response to Lusa.
At the end of May, the Nova Direita party accused the president of Lisbon’s municipality of “political manipulation” by ordering the removal of party posters in the city center months before the municipal elections.
On February 24, according to an order accessed by Lusa, CML notified several parties to remove their panels and political posters from the “central axis of the city of Lisbon,” in areas such as the squares of Marquês de Pombal, Entrecampos, and Campo Pequeno, or Avenida da República.
The justification given by the municipality for this removal request is due to several buildings in that central axis being classified as monuments or of public interest, and also because the “Plano das Avenidas Novas” is underway, aiming to “safeguard the existence of significant areas of trees and vegetation” between Praça do Marquês de Pombal and Campo Grande and to create a “more harmonious framework” for citizens.
