Under the slogan ‘Work, Honesty, Competence’, Paulo Raimundo visited nearly all of the 19 municipalities currently governed by the CDU during the campaign for the local elections, excluding only Barrancos, to showcase the “work accomplished” and the “distinctive character” of the coalition’s project.
From renovated schools in Viana do Alentejo to the Interpretive Center of the Arraiolos Tapestry, Paulo Raimundo consistently emphasized the notion that “those who know [the work of the CDU], trust” and described the local elections as a clash between two projects: the coalition’s, which serves the populations, and the others, “focused on deals and speculation.”
“These are two very distinct projects. One serves a few, centered on speculation and deals, with various protagonists. And the other serves everyone, the populations, this land, which is the CDU’s project,” stated Paulo Raimundo during a rally on Tuesday in Benavente.
Throughout the campaign, mainly consisting of rallies and walkabouts, Paulo Raimundo’s main focus of criticism was the PS – the party competing with the CDU for more city councils. The PCP secretary-general accused the PS of having “specialized in inaugurating” the coalition’s projects and leaving the towns where ‘CDU was ousted from the council leadership’ like Montemor-o-Novo or Moura “in stagnation and paralysis.”
As for Chega, viewed as potentially decisive in determining which party wins the councils based on whom they draw away votes from, Paulo Raimundo dropped veiled messages in his speeches, without explicitly naming that political force.
At nearly every rally attended, Paulo Raimundo emphasized that the CDU represents “serious, honest, and competent people,” aspiring to be a voice “of opposition or construction” in local governments and not of “spectacle and shouting,” alluding to Chega.
The only occasion Paulo Raimundo directly addressed Chega and its leader was during a visit to Moura, where André Ventura was elected a municipal deputy in the last local elections but missed 30 meetings.
“What André Ventura achieved — if you allow me to use a bit of André Ventura’s style — was a lack of shame, because what he achieved [the only time he was elected in local elections] was 30 absences from municipal meetings in Moura,” he remarked.
Although the CDU has never held so few municipalities and has been losing votes in nearly every election since 2019, Paulo Raimundo dismissed any notion that legislative results could be extrapolated to local elections, stressing that there are voters who opt for other parties in different elections but choose the CDU locally because their candidates are “people of the land” who earn the trust of the population.
The PCP secretary-general also downplayed the fact that 11 of the 19 CDU mayors cannot run again, having reached the constitutional limit of three consecutive terms, highlighting that there have been other years in which the coalition “changed faces” yet maintained or increased the number of councils.
Unlike other recent CDU campaigns, such as the legislative or European ones, which primarily conveyed a sense of resilience, Paulo Raimundo this time rejected the notion that the CDU is trying to “hold on” or “endure” in local governments.
On the contrary, the PCP secretary-general expressed confidence that the coalition would manage to “strengthen and expand” its number of councils, including in municipalities seen as having potential, like Almada, although he did not set any fixed electoral targets.
