After all, the accounts in Lisbon will not be closed. 60 votes to count, CDU can overcome Chega

Difference of 11 votes can be reversed in São Domingos de Benfica. But there was no square to vote for Chega, says the party.

A CDU, coalition that brings together PCP and PEV, said this Tuesday that there are 60 votes to be counted in the parish of São Domingos de Benficain Lisbon, “which were not counted” on Sunday during the municipal elections.

According to the provisional results published by the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Administration, the CDU was overtaken by Chega in the election for the Lisbon City Council, by a difference of just , but which was reflected in the loss of a communist councilor in the capital, compared to the two elected in 2021.

As part of the start of the general tabulation meetings of the electoral results, the CDU revealed that “60 votes still have to be counted from a parish that were not counted”, adding that this is São Domingos de Benfica.

“At the end of this process results may change. There may also be requests for a recountif there are elements that justify it”, added the PCP/PEV coalition, noting that “recounts are not carried out on request, there must be some basis”.

“The proximity of results [entre a CDU e o Chega]in itself, is not enough”, he added, noting that the decision on a possible request for a recount of the votes will be taken after the conclusion of the general tabulation assemblies, which must announce the results by Thursday.

In a brief note sent to the media, the CDU also informed that it is at the general tabulation assemblies that protests are assessed and “null votes are verified (and eventually challenged).

But the Enough claims that the votes in question must be classified as null.

A source from the Chega party told Lusa that there was “an error” in the ballots to the São Domingos de Benfica parish assembly during early voting, indicating that “they did not contain the necessary box for voting” in Chega’s candidacy, having reported the situation to the National Elections Commission (CNE).

I.e, there was no square to vote for Cheganext to the party name.

In , Bruno Mascarenhas, elected councilor for Chega, accused the PCP of “Trying to win at the secretariat” and having taken “several elements, the so-called controllers, to put pressure on and try to obtain an advantage that could change the popular vote.”

CNN also estimates that the total vote count will end tomorrow, Thursday.

Early voting failure

Speaking to the Lusa agency, the CNE spokesperson, André Wemans, revealed that it was “about 50 bulletins with one failure” regarding one of the three voting ballots in the parish of São Domingos de Benfica during the early voting, adding that the issue was fixed in the Sunday bulletins. However, the votes from none of the three Saturday early voting ballots for that parish will have been counted.

The CNE instructed the general counting assembly so that these votes could be analyzed, said André Wemans, without being able to say whether they would have to be considered null and whether the decision only affects the ballot for the parish assembly of São Domingos de Benfica or also the other two for the City Council and the Municipal Assembly.

Asked about the 60 votes that the CDU says were left uncounted, the CNE spokesperson said he was convinced that it had to do with the problem recorded in the early voting bulletins, informing that the representatives of the competing candidacies have the right to watch to the work of the general tabulation assemblies, as well as to present protests, as long as they are duly substantiated, as part of the conclusion of the work by Thursday.

After that date, with the publication of the definitive results, according to André Wemans, the possible protest is through the objection of the results.

In Sunday’s elections, social democrat Carlos Moedas was re-elected president of Lisbon City Council, by the PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition, with 41.69% of the votes, defeating socialist Alexandra Leitão (PS/Livre/BE/PAN), who had 33.95%.

Chega, the party that in 2021 failed to elect the municipal executive, was the third most voted candidate, with 10.10% of the votes (26,780 votes), ahead of the CDU, which obtained 10.09% (26,769 votes), by a difference of just 11 votes.