Nuno Piteira Lopes, president of Cascais City Council (c)
The PS refuses to join the municipal executive after the PSD assigned the responsibilities of transparency and sport to Chega.
The Cascais PS announced this evening that returned the portfolios which he exercised in the Lisbon district authority, after the PSD’s decision to integrate Chega into governance and assign him “executive responsibilities”.
“This decision results from a clear and publicly assumed political principle: the PS will not be part of a municipal executive in which Chega has responsibilities”, can be read in a statement from the Cascais Municipality of the PS.
Socialists say that given the option of the PSD in Cascais, which is led by Nuno Piteira Lopes, they cannot “out of coherence and responsibility, contribute to a governance model that normalize the presence of a political force whose positions are incompatible with the democratic and humanist values that the PS has always defended”.
The PSD/CDS-PP coalition lost, after six consecutive mandates, the absolute majority in Cascais in the October municipal elections, with the Viva Cascais candidacy, led by Nuno Piteira Lopesobtaining 30,258 votes (33.84%) for the municipal council, with five elected.
The PS candidacy obtained 14,460 votes (16.17%), electing João Ruivo and Alexandra Carvalho, and in third place was the independent João Maria Jonet, who obtained 13,203 votes (14.77%), with António Castro Henriques, ahead of Chega, with 12,954 votes (14.49%) and two elected, Pedro Teodoro dos Santos and João Rodrigues dos Santos.
O PS had a deal with the PSD/CDS-PP coalition.
João Ruivo, president of PS/Cascais and elected councilor, also argued, quoted in the press release, that “Cascais needs governance that gives meaning back to the municipality”.
“O PSD chose to integrate Chega in the executive. The PS does not follow this choice and will not assume positions in an executive where Chega has government responsibilities”, he stressed.
The PS Cascais Council also guaranteed that it will continue to “fulfill your duty of representation and public service, assuming a firm, constructive opposition that is close to the people, and presenting solutions to the real problems of the municipality”.
“Cascais No need for spectacle or propagandaand cannot resign themselves to seeing municipal power normalized with Chega’s entry into government. It needs answers, planning and seriousness”, he concluded.
