In Marinha Grande, people don’t think about Mário Soares: they steal cables and don’t give “value” to what’s going on

40 years later, new presidential elections, new campaign – but the focus is very different. Locals went to early voting.

It was 40 years ago: on January 14, 1986, during another presidential election, at the time during the campaign for the first round, Mário Soares went to a factory full of dissatisfied workers, due to the economic crisis at the time.

He was booed and was even the target of an attempted attack. It was .

Four decades later, a new context of elections for President of the Republic – but almost no one in Marinha Grande he talks about Mário Soares, or the 1986 elections, because the focus is different.

This Sunday was early voting day. Marinha Grande was one of the municipalities most affected by the pandemic, but even so, many voters (800 were registered) went to vote, describes the .

But the conversation wasn’t about the elections: it was talking about the storm, about the lack of waterabout streets damaged and the salaries to receive (especially in the mold industry).

And there are complaints from local inhabitants: “There is no water, electricity… There is no support. Due value was not given to what happened to us, here in Marinha Grande and in Leiria. It wasn’t”, describes Paulina Capitão in .

Many inhabitants of Marinha Grande remain without water because they are steal cables.

At the Lusa agency, the president of the City Council, Paulo Vicente, was clear: “The lack of water is due to the looting of electrical cables that connect to the generators”.

The mayor admitted that there may also be breakdowns or fuel failureswhile one of the population’s focuses is security.