During a walkabout in Moscavide, Loures, Paulo Raimundo reacted to criticisms from PS and Livre leaders, who on Monday night blamed the PCP for Carlos Moedas potentially winning the local elections in Lisbon.
The PCP Secretary-General argued that the PS should have used Monday’s rally to “criticize Moedas’ policies and the right-wing management of Lisbon City Hall.”
“I understand why they didn’t: because the PS is complicit in these policies. The PS approved all the budgets. Everything negative in Lisbon also has PS’s involvement, which is why they chose to use a campaign moment not to criticize the policy they supported, but to criticize the PCP. That’s just absurd,” stated Paulo Raimundo.
In response to criticism not only from the PS but also from other parties like Livre, Raimundo remarked this is “even more inconsistent and hypocritical,” pointing out that some of these parties, prior to joining the PS-led coalition, often voted alongside the PCP at Lisbon City Hall.
“They voted with us against the PS’s own decisions in Lisbon and now say such things… Parties who just hours earlier criticized, rightly, PS’s municipal management, yet go on to act like that… It’s too much,” he said.
Questioned on António Vitorino’s challenge on how the PCP would feel if responsible for Carlos Moedas’s victory, Raimundo redirected the question: “How does António Vitorino feel after the PS has been the crutch for Moedas’s poor management for four years?”
“How does the PS feel about still being responsible for the eviction law affecting Lisbon and Loures? How does António Vitorino sleep soundly, considering the PS’s responsibility in Moedas’s management over these four years concerning transport, housing, speculation, and neighborhood degradation?” he queried.
Paulo Raimundo stated that the PCP “sleeps soundly” and is committed to “solving these problems,” whereas “perhaps António Vitorino can’t sleep soundly considering his party’s record.”
