Rui Minderico / LUSA
Maria das Dores Meira wins local elections in Setúbal
The “inconvenience” Maria das Dores Meira and the options criticized internally in Aveiro and Espinho. Pedro Alves defends choices.
O PSD He arrived at this year’s local councils with different strategies: either running alone, or leading different coalitions (with several parties), or supporting independents.
When the list of the party’s National Political Commission was published, two independents stood out: Isaltino Morais (Oeiras) and Maria das Dores Meira (Setúbal).
Isaltino Morais, former PSD, has not had the support of the Social Democrats for 24 years. Meanwhile, he found himself involved in several delicate issues, including money laundering, tax fraud and passive corruption. He was even convicted of tax fraud. He continues to be president in Oeiras.
Maria das Dores Meira, former CDU, will have received payments for expenses with unusual amounts, when she was president of the Setúbal City Council; and it will be again. The inclusion of his name on the lists of social democrats created great discomfort within the PSD.
At the time, reactions were quick. Among them, the reaction to a PSD that “gives an ethical compass in the name of winning, winning, winning. There is a loss of shame here”, warned commentator Rui Pedro Antunes.
But the PSD’s local coordinator is not sorry. When asked about the matter, rejected that there had been a “settlement of accounts” with local structures who opposed the choice of the party (something that happened in Aveiro and Espinho).
Pedro Alves guarantees that “there were no impositions”for example in these cases of Luís Souto and Jorge Ratola, new presidents of the Chambers of Aveiro and Espinho, respectively: “There were no white glove slaps. We wanted to choose other, successful options.”
In the specific case of Setúbal, with the PSD’s contested support for Maria das Dores Meira (winner), Pedro Alves reacts: “It looks like we made the right choice”.
