On the final stop of a campaign day dedicated to the districts of Portalegre and Évora, Paulo Raimundo participated in a dinner rally in Montemor-o-Novo, a city historically governed by communists from 1976 until 2021, when it was won by the Socialist Party (PS).
In his speech at the end of the dinner, the general secretary of the Communist Party (PCP) claimed that each day under PS governance in Montemor-o-Novo represented “another day of stagnation, delay, loss of funds, and loss of conditions to solve Montemor’s problems.”
“The CDU is here to recover lost time, not only to halt this path of regression but to resume a path of hope and solutions for Montemor,” he declared.
Paulo Raimundo emphasized that, just hours before the official start of the municipal campaign, CDU’s opponents would prefer them to talk “about everything: the stratosphere, stars, the moon, the phases of the moon, these things.”
“They wanted us to talk about everything except what they haven’t done, and the mistakes they have made. They wanted us to talk about everything to avoid their own responsibilities. From here we say: we will be here to confront them with what they haven’t done,” he stated.
Addressing the PS directly, Paulo Raimundo stressed that the CDU is here to say that “those truckloads of promises they made four years ago” have resulted in “zero.”
“Zero accomplishment, zero projects, zero! Their only specialty is cutting ribbons on projects that the CDU left here, cutting the ribbons of our work, our effort, at our expense,” he accused.
Reiterating that Montemor-o-Novo has “moved backwards” under PS management, Paulo Raimundo challenged the population to compare the “municipal management of work, honesty, and competence with four years of paralysis” in the city.
“Compare the work done, the projects, and the conclusion can only be one: it is necessary, urgent, and necessary [a CDU victory]. And that is how it will be on the 12th. The population, workers, and youth of Montemor will achieve a great victory, because it will be a great victory for the CDU,” he said.
The CDU candidate in Montemor-o-Novo is Carlos Pinto de Sá, who presided over the municipality between 1994 and 2012 and is currently the president of the Évora City Council, where he cannot run again due to the limit of three consecutive terms.
In a speech at the rally, Carlos Pinto de Sá also offered harsh criticism of the PS management in Montemor-o-Novo, accusing the party of promising “everything and more than a pair of boots” four years ago “with a silver tongue and to win.”
“And they won’t even leave us a simple pair of slippers. They promised to solve the traffic problem on the avenue within a year, bring loads of companies to Montemor, establish a slaughterhouse, create a river beach, an arts and culture center, invest in rural parishes, blah blah blah… They promised everything and more. They fulfilled zero,” he criticized.
Carlos Pinto de Sá also issued warnings regarding the Chega candidate in Montemor-o-Novo, whom he accused of wanting to “liberate” Montemor from democracy.
“He wants to return to the past, he wants to end democracy,” he warned, urging the people of Montemor not to see Chega as “a protest vote or a solution to the problems” but rather that CDU holds “the vote of struggle, transformation, the vote that counts.”
