PSD candidate for Almada highlights political experience as an "added value"

"The experience I gained as a mayor, national and European deputy, can be and contain the necessary ingredients to bring about the change that the people of Almada would like to see happen in the municipality," Hélder Sousa e Silva, who officially presents his candidacy this afternoon, told Lusa news agency.

The 59-year-old social democrat and current MEP was mayor of Mafra (Lisbon district) from 2013 to 2024, when he resigned to take up the position of MEP, having been elected on the AD (PSD/CDS-PP Coalition) lists.

Hélder Sousa e Silva admitted that his connection to Almada "is not long-standing", but he accepted the challenge "that came from the national level of the party" to bring about change in a municipality where the PSD was not an alternative in the past".

Despite "not having a strong connection" to the municipality, the candidate stated that he "has a moderate understanding of its reality and problems", due to the positions he held as vice-president of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities.

Hélder Sousa e Silva listed five major themes "as priority objectives" of the candidacy, namely health problems, internal mobility and mobility between Almada and Lisbon, housing, urban cleaning and attracting tourism and investment.

"Health is a priority, not only for the people of Almada, but also for our candidacy, along with the issue of mobility, one of the major issues that, despite the recent works that have been carried out, continues to be a fundamental issue," he noted.

Housing, he added, is a cross-cutting issue across the country, and in the municipality the problem is exacerbated "by the lack of housing for young people and families living in slums."

"Along with all this, the issue of urban cleanliness and urban planning are topics that I cannot fail to list as priorities, along with tourism and attracting investment," he noted.

Hélder Sousa e Silva said he accepted the challenge to head the PSD's list for the presidency of the Almada City Council, given that he is "a man of causes and after a long period of reflection and consideration with his family."

"I accepted with a full sense of mission, because the PSD is the alternative to eight years of socialist government and, for the people of Almada, on October 12th, to have the opportunity to choose whether they truly want a different, transformed, first-world Almada, or whether they want to continue like the Almada on the other side, with a lot of suburbanity, with a lot to do and with enormous potential," he concluded.

The race for mayor of Almada, in the district of Setúbal, led by socialist Inês de Medeiros since 2017, currently has five known candidates, including the current mayor, who is running for re-election for a final term.

Although she has not yet publicly presented her candidacy, Inês de Medeiros' name was approved by the PS's Almada Political Commission.

The CDU (PCP/PEV coalition), which was in charge of the municipality until 2017, presents as its top candidate the professor and local mayor Luís Palma, the Left Bloc (BE) the sociologist and former member of the Assembly of the Republic Sandra Cunha and the Liberal Initiative (IL) the manager Carlos Alves.

The current executive branch is composed of five elected members from the Socialist Party (PS), four from the CDU, one from the Left Bloc (BE), and one from the PSD (PSD). In both 2017 and 2021, the PS and PSD reached an agreement to form an absolute majority in the executive branch.

The municipality of Almada has nearly 184,000 inhabitants, spread across 70 square kilometers, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

The local elections will take place on October 12th.

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