“All the best for you! Let’s see if this goes up!” said a woman to Paulo Raimundo, who graciously received words of support while walking through the historic center of Guimarães, Braga district.
After garnering backing from CaetanoBus workers in Vila Nova de Gaia and laborers from Castanheira do Ribatejo, Raimundo received a pledge of support from 2,253 leaders, union delegates, and worker commission members in Guimarães, as conveyed by Otília Pedro, a leader of the Commerce Workers Union.
“You see… then I get into the lyricism,” the PCP’s General Secretary remarked to journalists, noting, “it’s a lot of people, it’s a lot of strength.”
During the midst of the walkabout, Paulo Raimundo told reporters that “the atmosphere is not everything, the atmosphere does not vote,” yet it gives confidence to the CDU at the close of the first campaign week.
In this vein, the PCP General Secretary reiterated his belief that they would achieve better results in the upcoming elections.
At the end of the walk, and after hearing the CGTP General Secretary Tiago Oliveira’s appeal for votes for the CDU, Paulo Raimundo maintained an optimistic outlook for the May 18th results.
According to the communist leader, there is already too much “voice of capital in the Assembly of the Republic,” asserting the necessity for the “voice of labor, of those who do not have sufficient wages to reach the end of the month” to be heard.
“Perhaps the big challenge for these final days is how we transform this recognition, this respect for the party, this good atmosphere, into votes,” said the communist leader. Shortening his speech due to light rain near the Alberto Sampaio Museum, he added, “if there is one thing that cannot happen to anyone now, it is to get sick.”
