Marcelo says Moedas has “political responsibility” but dismissal makes no sense

The President of the Republic stated this Sunday that the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, bears "political responsibility" for the deadly accident in the Glória elevator, but considers that it makes no sense to talk about resignation a month before elections.

"To be debating political responsibility and saying that this implies resignation when there is an election a month away is to fail to understand that the judgment on political responsibility in elected positions lies with the voters," highlighted Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in statements to television, as he left the Alto de São João cemetery, after the funeral of one of the victims of Wednesday's derailment.

But "there is political responsibility," he stressed, because "whoever holds a political office is politically responsible," the head of state noted.

“Whoever is in charge of a public institution (…) is subject to political judgment for anything that goes wrong in that institution, even if they are not at fault and even if there is no intervention,” he clarified.

“The problem is knowing how accountability is implemented” and, for that, “we need to have the complete report,” he said, emphasizing, however, that “it [accountability] exists in principle.”

However, he stressed, “those in elected positions are accountable to the voters” and those in Lisbon are “very close to the opportunity to (…) express themselves” in the local elections on October 12.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa recalled that there were “more serious cases” at the local government level in which the electorate maintained confidence in political leaders.

At the same time, he recalled that, in the case of the fires in Pedrógão Grande, in 2017, he understood that the dismissal of the Government was not justified, even though he said that he would not run for President again if “that number of deaths and injuries” were to happen again.

These statements led a journalist to ask him whether he was “sending a message” to the mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas.

“I’m not sending any message, because the cases are different,” he dismissed.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also said he understands that the president of Carris has made his position available and considers that Carlos Moedas “did well” in not accepting it at this stage.

However, it is important that “objective liability does not die alone”, even though “apparently there is no specific fault on the part of anyone” in the accident with the Glória elevator, which caused 16 deaths and 22 injuries.

"This can't happen. Otherwise, where will we end up? How many deaths are necessary for accountability to be established?" he concluded, thus concluding his remarks to reporters.