MANUEL DE ALMEIDA/LUSA
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
Polling stations opened at 8am and closed at 7pm. President of the Republic focused his call to vote for the PRR with concrete accounts: voting “is also voting for millions to be invested” in municipalities and parishes.
The President of the Republic called for a vote this Saturday, considering that European funds, “millions who never return” are “an additional reason” to go and vote in local councils on Sunday, noting that “a good part” of these resources will go through local authorities.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that “the next four years will be decisive for the use of money from Brussels, first of all, from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR)”, of which “just over 9 billion have already been applied, but in total there are 23 billion”.
“In this year 2025 Not voting is giving up a unique opportunity to benefit from a financial situation that is unrepeatable“, defended the head of state, in the usual presidential message on the eve of elections.
As for the PRR, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa added that it remains to “reach more than 13 billion to the final beneficiaries”, and that, in addition to these funds, there are “another 23 billion” from Portugal 2030, “available until 2029”.
According to the President of the Republic, European funds are “an additional reason to vote” because “a large part of these huge resources will go through local authorities, which will require a lot from mayors, councillors, municipal deputies, parish council presidents, council members”.
“In a word: voting is not just voting for those we actually know best, it is at the same time voting for them to invest millions that will never come back, giving more development to our municipalities and parishes”, he argued.
“Vote for yourselves, for your families and communities, for the future, for Portugal, which is all of you”, he concluded.
At the end of his ninth and last message on the eve of elections, which lasted around four minutes, Marcelo recalled his past as mayor in Cascais, Lisbon and Celorico de Basto and maintained that “without strong local power everything else is like a building without foundations”.
“It’s like a tree without roots, it’s like a power with less power, or even without any essential base power for democracy. Therefore, I address this insistent appeal to you: tomorrow [domingo] vote for yourselves, for your families, for your communities, for your future. Ultimately, vote for Portugal, which is all of you”, he appealed.
The head of state pointed out other reasons for participating in local elections, considering that “not voting is, to a certain extent, giving up intervening in concrete problems: health units, schools, housing, transport, security, paths, roads, environment”.
3 elections in less than a year
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa framed local authorities as “the most closely functioning democracy” and highlighted that these elections are taking place with “many mayors reaching the 12-year term limit” and with “a number of competing lists that have never been reached”.
Furthermore, he highlighted that between 2025 and the beginning of 2026 there will be three elections, “for the Assembly of the Republic, for local government and for President of the Republic, in less than a year – as only happened at the beginning of democracy, in 1976, 1979 and 1980”.
As polling stations opened today at 08:00 on the mainland and in Madeira to choose the leaders of municipalities and parishes for the next four years. The polls will be open until 7pm. Us Azores, open and close 60 minutes later from the mainland and Madeira tables, due to the time difference of minus one hour.
