Paulo Raimundo concluded the third official day of the local election campaign with a rally dinner at the Volunteer Firefighters Hall of Queluz in Sintra, where PS and Livre have formed a coalition to support Ana Mendes Godinho, while PSD, IL, and PAN are backing candidate Marco Almeida and Chega supports Rita Matias.
Avoiding direct reference to any specific candidacies, Paulo Raimundo described the current local political climate in Sintra as one of “great demand, great difficulty, and much blackmail.”
“I would say the blackmail is such that they want to push the people and workers of Sintra into a dead end, to a trio of fun, to this supposed confrontation where they all feed off each other,” he remarked.
Addressing more than two hundred CDU supporters, Paulo Raimundo assured that the coalition intends to “oppose this path, this blackmail, and this pressure.”
“We are the alternative here in Sintra. We are the alternative in the service of the workers. We are the alternative serving the populations. We are the alternative that is needed,” he declared, receiving a strong applause.
The PCP secretary-general argued that the people of Sintra do not want “a three-speed municipality: high speed for a vast minority, slow pace for those who are moderately well-off, and another pace for the vast, immense majority” of the people.
“Sintra does not need more propaganda and more illusion, much less does it need lies, cheap demagoguery, or hatred. The difficulties are already enough for the vast majority of this population,” he stressed.
In a critique of promises he deemed inappropriate for the municipality, Paulo Raimundo underscored, “In Sintra, it does not snow, and where it does not snow, snowplows are not needed.”
“Let them clear the snow wherever they see fit in the cold lands. What Sintra needs is more public housing, more sports, more culture, more environment, more kindergartens, support for associativism, care homes, more integration,” he advocated.
In an apparent allusion to Rita Matias of Chega, Raimundo argued that Sintra needs “more serious, honest people ready to serve the populace, and not charlatans.”
“It doesn’t need those who come here to sell snake oil, who, in the name of the people, want to make room for their business deals,” he criticized.
The CDU’s candidate for Sintra’s City Hall is the current councilor Pedro Ventura. Others competing for the Sintra City Hall on October 12 include Ana Mendes Godinho (PS/Livre), Marco Almeida (PSD/IL/PAN), Maurício Rodrigues (CDS-PP/PPM/ADN), Rita Matias (Chega), Tânia Russo (BE), and Júlio Gourgel Ferreira (ND).
Currently, the executive of Sintra, led by Basílio Horta who completed three terms and is not eligible for re-election, comprises five representatives from PS, three from PSD, one from CDS-PP, one from CDU, and one independent (former Chega).
