José Carlos Gonçalves / Facebook
José Carlos Gonçalves, new Mayor of São Vicente elected by Chega
The incident reportedly occurred when the PSD delegate confronted him for trying to influence voters’ votes. José Carlos Gonçalves rejects any aggression.
José Carlos Gonçalves, who became the first Chega mayor to be elected Mayor after winning the elections in São Vicente, is being accused of having PSD desk delegate attacked on Sunday morning.
The allegations were detailed by , which states that the “serious incidents” occurred at the Lameiros voting table. According to reports, the PSD delegate asked José Carlos Gonçalves to step away from the table, claiming that the candidate had been with voters for too long and that he was trying to influence the vote, something that violates electoral law.
After the notice, the Chega candidate will have launched on the social democratic delegate. A video released by DN Madeira also shows Gonçalves trying to approach a person in a wheelchair, before attacking the person filming him.
The newspaper also states that similar behavior was reported by members of Chega’s candidacy in other polling places in the municipality and that a complaint was filed with the National Elections Commission.
In a clarification note sent to , José Carlos Gonçalves rejected having attacked the police officer and defended himself against the accusations. The mayor claimed that he was only near the polling station to deliver food to members of his candidacy, including a friend.
“During this brief trip, an individual identified as a member of the PSD candidacy began filming the candidate without his consent, while he was talking to the aforementioned friend”, says the winner of the election, who guarantees that the video “does not reflect the real context of the situation” and the episode was “unfairly distorted and amplified”, ruling out “any act of aggression”.
Despite the controversy, José Carlos Gonçalves ended up making history on the same day, when he was elected president of the São Vicente City Council, becoming the first Chega mayor to win a municipality. The candidate obtained 49.23% of the votes (1705 votes), defeating the PSD/CDS, which until now governed the municipality.
