PSD/Porto activists and mayors, including Vladimiro Feliz, who was the social-democratic candidate for Porto city council, spoke out today against the national leadership’s intention to nominate Rui Moreira as head of the list for the European elections.
The signatories consider it to be “a betrayal of the people of Porto, of the militants, sympathizers and mayors elected by the PSD”, saying they have no doubt that “it will leave deep marks on the trust that the people of Porto have in the PSD”.
“Obviously, faced with the current rumors, which are increasingly certain, that the current mayor of Porto will be the PSD’s nominee for the next European elections, we want to make it clear publicly that we distance ourselves from this option,” reads a statement signed by around two dozen militants, mayors and former mayors of the PSD of Porto.
The PSD and CDS-PP national councils will meet tonight in Lisbon to approve the list of candidates for the European elections and approve a change to the name of the pre-election coalition AD, with which they will stand for election on June 9.
In the manifesto to which Lusa had access today, the signatories state that they are taking “this position with only the interests of the city in mind, to guarantee its governability and the inclusion of essential proposals from our program”.
“However, the fact that Rui Moreira has seen his popularity decline over the course of his terms in office is not unrelated to this strategy of trying to get along with God and the devil at all times, without hiding strong attacks on the national party system, in line with the interests of his political project. A system that he now has an enormous desire to integrate,” they stress.
For the signatories, the closeness that the independent Rui Moreira “has always maintained and maintains with António Costa, even stating that ‘Portugal was lucky to have António Costa as prime minister’, makes it difficult, or not, to understand the recent rapprochement with AD”.
“Porto has never forgiven those who abandon it. In the history of the city, the leadership of the current mayor will remain just a line and a period, with no content,” conclude the signatories of this manifesto.
Alexandra Rodrigues, militant and businesswoman in the city of Porto, Alexandre Pinto, militant, PSD leader and member of the municipal campaign board in Porto in 2021, Bernardo Abilheira, militant, former PSD leader and mayor in the city of Porto, Eduardo Carvalho, militant, former mayor, PSD candidate for mayor of Aldoar in Rui Rio’s candidacy in 2009, Fernando Braga de Matos, mayor, and Filipe Sampaio Rodrigues, PSD candidate for councillor in Porto in the 2021 municipal elections, are some of the people who signed the document.
They are joined by Inácio Roseira, PSD activist, leader and municipal candidate in the 2021 elections, João Pedro Antunes, PSD leader, mayor, candidate for president of the Union of Parishes of Aldoar, Foz do Douro and Nevogilde in 2021, João Pinto, militant and municipal candidate, João Gonçalves, militant, mayor and former president of JSD/Porto, José Pedro Fonseca, mayor, former PSD and JSD leader, and Luís Magalhães, militant, candidate for councillor in the 2021 municipal elections.
Miguel Aroso, mayor and PSD leader, Miguel Corte Real, leader of the PSD group in the Porto Municipal Assembly, Miguel Guimarães, mayor, Nuno Krug de Noronha, activist and mayor, Pedro Vaz Branco, activist and former leader, Rita Monteiro de Sousa, candidate for councillor and youth representative in the 2021 municipal elections, Tiago Mota e Costa, activist, former president of JSD/Porto and director of the PSD municipal campaign in Porto in 2021, and Vladimiro Feliz, candidate for mayor of Porto in 2021.
