The mayor stated to Lusa that “our governance program is not confined to a single term,” after securing the presidency in 2021 with 61.90% of the votes (three terms), taking over from the PSD, which did not present a candidate.
Ricardo Pardal expressed his “ambition to do more and do better” in sectors such as the economy, education, and social welfare.
“There’s significant investment to be made in the social sector, working in network with the IPSS (private institutions of social solidarity) and all entities that contribute to the well-being of the population. The conditions are now set, with a series of investments and projects, to provide this response,” he stated.
The mayor noted that “one term is short, and four years go by very quickly.”
“Between planning, designing, launching tenders, and executing, we are at the end of the term,” he emphasized, adding that this was “a complicated term for most mayors because it marked the end of a community framework with some complications and the start of a new one with significant delays in the opening of notices.”
He cited the area of basic sanitation as an example, which “absorbed a lot of resources, and only now are the results beginning to be seen.”
“The Mortágua WWTP (Wastewater Treatment Plant) is 30 years old, and only after two years of studies and evaluation have we managed to effectively mature and revise a project to launch a tender to give it another 10/15 years of useful life, while preparing a new project,” he recounted.
According to Ricardo Pardal, “there needs to be an integrated study of a solution for the entire municipality, which is impossible in four years.”
In the last municipal elections, the second most-voted was the independent movement Renew Mortágua, led by André Faustino, which received 32.43% of the votes (two seats).
That year, the PSD, which was governing the Mortágua Council, chose not to present a candidate, after the president, José Júlio Norte, who had been indicated by the party’s secretary-general, announced he would not seek re-election.
