Speaking at a rally in the Valadares Volunteer Firefighters’ Hall in Vila Nova de Gaia, Paulo Raimundo stated that the opponents of the CDU have “means and propaganda” with which the coalition neither can nor wishes to compete.
“We see our opponents with enormous means, carrying bags of promises, truckloads of promises, (…) in a simulation of accusations, spats, in apparent disagreement, but in everything that is central, they are all aligned,” he declared.
The secretary-general of the PCP emphasized that this is evident in Vila Nova de Gaia, a municipality where, he noted, there is a “new media interest,” alluding to the return of Luís Filipe Menezes, who presided over the municipal council from 1997 to 2013 and is once again a candidate, this time supported by PSD, CDS, and IL.
In Gaia, “the names of some are discussed, the return of others is talked about… Everything is discussed except the political projects under debate, and we understand well why. Because if they talk about the political projects under discussion, there would be only two subjects to talk about: their project and the CDU’s project,” he emphasized.
Paulo Raimundo argued that the CDU embodies the “breakaway project,” placing “the elderly, children, housing, and youth” at its center.
“Here we are not talking about the stratosphere, about mega projects; here we are not talking about those megasized pharaonic works that some seem to want to rebuild here in Vila Nova de Gaia. Here we talk about the missing transportation, the insufficient salary, the problems of access to healthcare, the drama of housing,” he said.
For the secretary-general of the PCP, it is necessary for the Gaia City Council to have those who “denounce, who stand up” and “present solutions,” setting the goal of securing a councilor for the first time since 2005.
“The issue at hand is for the CDU to return to councilorship in the Gaia City Council, strengthen the Municipal Assembly and expand its participation in Gaia’s parish councils. This is our main electoral objective,” he said.
The CDU candidate for Gaia City Council is André Araújo, who, in a speech at the rally, argued that the current problems in the council, from housing to transportation, including water prices, are due to the PS and PSD, “who alternated in power according to interests.”
“On the PSD side, we have Luís Filipe Menezes wanting to return, as if Vila Nova de Gaia missed the debt, the clientele, the cronyism. On the PS side, it’s the usual practices that persist and endure. The same wall of excuses, the same policy of announcements and propaganda that do not solve people’s real problems,” he accused.
André Araújo stated that Vila Nova de Gaia does not “need ghosts, does not need puppets, heirs, nor more of the same.”
“Vila Nova de Gaia needs serious and honest people, this force. Vila Nova de Gaia needs the return of the CDU,” he advocated.
