Ventura, Valentim and Victor, the president who should not have been elected: controversies in local authorities

The gypsies of Loures, the electrical appliances in Gondomar, the strange case of António de Freitas Victor. And, of course, the donkey versus the Ferrari.

The election campaign autarchic This Sunday was not marked by any very controversial episode, or anything completely out of the ordinary. But it wasn’t always like that.

In this small retrospective, we recover four episodes that marked other local authorities, in different decades and even centuries. Almost always during the campaign – but there is a strange case that occurred after the elections.

Following a chronological order, it is precisely with this strange case that we begin.

1976, Machico

In 1976, in the first local elections after April 25th, Antonio de Freitas Victor was elected president in Machico (Madeira). But, remember, he didn’t even go to the inauguration – it’s just that military era and, therefore, he could not be president of the City Council. Yes, the list had been accepted.

It shouldn’t have. Things from a regime inexperienced in free elections.

1993, Gondomar

Two almost immediate memories emerge from the 1993 campaign. The first in Gondomar, where Valentine Loureiro led the historic “campaign of appliances.”

He took advantage of his presence in one of his – several – businesses, an electrical appliance store, and offered videos, televisions or refrigerators to voters in Gondomar.

“I called my store and ordered a video and a television to be delivered. The news spread and, afterwards, everyone asked me for the same. As I am not capable of discriminating against anyone, I ordered a truck loaded with 80 televisions and video devices, and distributed them to all the schools”, revealed Valentim Loureiro himself. Who, yes, won the elections.

1993, Loures

In the same year, but further south, Antonio Costa – yes, that one – he placed one in Loures. It was to show that the animal would be faster than the car, because of the traffic; and to reinforce the idea that Loures and Odivelas needed a metro (something that still doesn’t exist, 32 years later).

The donkey won, António Costa didn’t. Demétrio Carlos Alves (CDU) was elected president, with just 1,722 more votes than Costa.

2017, Loures

More recently, in 2017, and interestingly also in Loures, Andre Ventura had his first moment of protagonism in politics. Candidate for PSD/CDS, said that the gypsies they were living “above the law and almost exclusively on State subsidies”.

BE filed a complaint, the PS even tried to get Pedro Passos Coelho to take away Ventura’s trust; couldn’t. But André Ventura did not manage to become president, losing to Bernardino Soares (CDU).

A year later, Ventura stopped being a councilor at Loures City Council – he resigned because he had “political disagreements” with the PSD and because he was launching another party. Today we know what it is.