Candidates are lining up to succeed Basílio Horta in Sintra. Who are they?

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Former minister Ana Mendes Godinho, 53, is running for mayor of Sintra, in a PS/Livre coalition, with former socialist mayor João Soares for the municipal assembly.
At the presentation of her candidacy, in the presence of the Socialist Secretary General, José Luís Carneiro, and the spokesperson for Livre, Rui Tavares, the candidate thanked Basílio Horta for the challenge to continue with "the work achieved over 12 years" of PS management.
"The municipality of Sintra is steeped in history, but above all, it's steeped in life stories. And the challenges facing Sintra today are not compatible with populist solutions and proclamations that fit into a 30-second space on 'Tik Tok,'" said the former Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security.
Priorities include housing, with "10,000 homes on the market at affordable prices and rents" by 2030, a "network with over six thousand new free places in daycare centers, community childcare spaces", an increase in "places in preschool" and the end of tolls on the A16 (CREL-Cascais) for residents, workers and companies in the municipality, which could cost 18 million euros.
Former Social Democrat councilor Marco Almeida, 55, is running for mayor for the third time, with the support of the PSD and the Liberal Initiative, accompanied by Fernando Seara for the municipal assembly, of whom he was vice-president for three terms.
In 2013, he headed the list of the independent movement "Sintrenses com Marco Almeida", in a candidacy against the PSD, being elected councilor and ceasing his social-democratic affiliation, but, in 2017, he returned to head the list as an independent in the coalition "Juntos pelos Sintrenses", of PSD, CDS-PP, PPM and MPT, losing to Basílio Horta.
While waiting for the official presentation, Marco Almeida will not have the support of the CDS-PP, following the PSD's coalition with the IL, with councilor Maurício Rodrigues, 54, having announced his candidacy for the council for the "centrists".
The lawyer also explained, in a statement, that the municipality deserves to "free itself from a personal project that has been dragging on for more than 16 years - sometimes alone, sometimes with parties, sometimes with coalitions of an undefined matrix - and that continues to repeat the same messages, as if the municipality had been frozen in time."
Councillor Pedro Ventura, 48, is running again for the CDU council, aiming to "reinforce" the vote in the PCP/PEV coalition by recognizing the work carried out and focusing on urban requalification, housing and cleaning.
At the presentation of his candidacy in Rio de Mouro, in the presence of the PCP's general secretary, Paulo Raimundo, the candidate lamented that "all political forces, with the exception of the CDU, have always accepted with great passivity" the "powers of the central administration in various areas, in the case of education, social action and even housing".
Pedro Ventura gave the example of the "investment of 68 million euros in the Sintra Proximity Hospital, which has not yet begun operating, which is a real shame", despite being handed over a year ago by the municipality to the Government, a responsibility that "should clearly fall to the central administration".
Deputy Rita Matias, 26, will be Chega's candidate for Sintra, in a municipality where the party received the most votes in the early legislative elections on May 18, followed by PSD/CDS-PP and PS.
The candidate, who coordinates the youth of the far-right party, succeeds Nuno Afonso, head of the list in the previous local elections, in 2021, who left the party in 2023 and became an independent councilor.
Under the slogan "Sintra on the line," the candidacy advocated on the social network Facebook, by topics, "decent housing, with real solutions for those who live and work in the municipality" or "security, with more protected streets and effective responses for citizens."
On Friday, the BE council approved the candidacy of doctor and union leader Tânia Russo, 44, for the city council, and of nurse and researcher André Beja, 47, for the municipal assembly, a proposal that must be ratified in the coming days by the district and national bodies of the Left Bloc.
The municipal program for 2025 "will be based on strengthening solidarity policies that promote inclusion and freedom as an alternative to hateful and neo-fascist policies," said a source from the council.
The Sintra City Council executive, chaired by Basílio Horta, who served three terms and cannot run again, is made up of five elected members from the PS, three from the PSD, one from the CDS-PP, one from the CDU and one independent (ex-Chega).
The municipality of Sintra, with 319.23 square kilometers (INE), has 400,947 inhabitants (Pordata, 2024, based on INE data).
The local elections will take place on October 12th.
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