Local elections: Livre, BE and PAN move forward in a “resistance” coalition in Cascais

The leaders of Livre, BE and PAN parties said this Sunday they are "on the right side of history" with the Cascais local government coalition, which they say is taking a stand against "the headwinds" in the country and around the world.

Economist Alexandre Abreu, currently a municipal deputy for the Left Bloc (BE), officially announced his candidacy for the Cascais City Council, supported by the coalition formed by the BE, Livre and PAN, with the slogan “Common Future”, which has Safaa Dib, from Livre, as candidate for the Municipal Assembly, and João Paulo Batalha, pictured, as representative.

At the candidacy presentation, which took place at the Quinta de Rana Urban Park, the three leaders praised the candidates and the president, known for his anti-corruption stance, but also provided a national interpretation of this understanding "between people who find themselves every day on the right side of a parliament that is capable of dialogue."

Rui Tavares, a member of parliament and spokesperson for Livre, argued that the coalition is based on a shared vision of the future and freedom, which he believes has been distorted in recent times, and has pitted two visions of society against each other.

"Do we want a distrustful country? Do we want a country where the poor are angry with the wretched who are angry with the wretched who are angry with the neighbor across the street, all of them angry with the immigrant? Or do we want a country that is Portugal at its best, that is also Cascais at its best, a country of mutual aid, a country of mutual responsibility where we are all responsible for our future, a country of kindness?" he asked.

BE coordinator Mariana Mortágua was more direct in her criticism of the current PSD/CDS-PP government, which she accused of replacing its ideas on public services with the fight against immigration.

"The right talks about far-right issues because they want power, because they want to stay in power. It's a purely opportunistic policy," he accused, arguing that Chega doesn't even need ministers to come to power because those from the PSD have been "interpreters of far-right politics."

On the contrary, he argued, the three parties that today form the Cascais local government coalition want to "resist the increasingly stronger winds and change the direction of the wind, change the direction of the river's course, fight against this wave of history."

"To achieve this, we need two things: first, to join forces, to join parties, to join social movements, to join independents, to join civil society, to join those who want to join this program. And second, we need a program, a vision, a project," he stated, considering that this union in Cascais could be a starting point.

PAN leader Inês Sousa Real also stressed that the three parties "are on the right side of history" and said they will be together "in other parts of the country."

"Not only Cascais, but Portugal is currently facing a huge challenge: democratic, of good policies, of building a locality to think globally and ensuring that we can thus provide a future not only for present and future generations," he said.

Candidate Alexandre Abreu cited his work already done in the municipality and praised this coalition for combating “the forces of hatred and division.”

In the end, journalists asked why it was not possible to include the PS in this coalition, unlike what happened, for example, in the Lisbon City Council.

"The possibility of coalitions always depends on the local political reality, and the PS's proposals here in Cascais and the PS's vision for the municipality are far removed from the shared core vision of this coalition. From the outset, both on their part and on ours, there was no willingness to bridge these differences because they were simply too great," he stated.

In addition to Alexandre Abreu, the candidacies of Nuno Piteira Lopes (PSD/CDS-PP), João Ruivo (PS), João Rodrigues dos Santos (Chega), Carlos Rabaçal (CDU), Manuel Simões de Almeida (IL), João Maria Jonet (independent) and António Pinto Pereira (independent, with support from the New Right and We, Citizens!) have already been announced in the municipality.

The local elections will take place on October 12th.