Portugal’s local elections (Eleições Autárquicas) brought a lot of surprises for the Algarve on Sunday, October 12 – and a huge boost to PS Socialists who ‘won’ the capital, Faro, after three consecutive mandates under Rogério Bacalhau, of the PSD.
It is not a resounding win in any way: incoming mayor António Pina – a seasoned political actor who heads up AMAL (the intermunicipal community of the Algarve) and has been mayor of Olhão for the last 12 years – garnered 39.48% of the votes (12,533 in total), against the 31.64% (10,059) of PSD coalition candidate/MP, Cristóvão Norte, and the 17.26% (5,489 votes) of CHEGA MP Pedro Pinto.
This means Pina will be mayor, but he will rule without any majority: his four PS councillors will be forever facing three PSD coalition councillors (the coalition in Faro joins IL, CDS, PAN and MPT) and two from CHEGA. In other words, PS has to dialogue, or progress will be tough.
The ‘good news’ for Socialists is that their hold of the Algarve remains. The region has traditionally been a PS stronghold – and although André Ventura interpreted the legislative results (where CHEGA ‘painted the Algarve blue’) as an indication that locals preferred his party, on a local level this is not the case: only Albufeira fell to CHEGA (the party had predicted major wins along the coast), and the new mayor, former PSD MP Rui Cristina, has the same problem as António Pina (perhaps even more so). His result sees CHEGA rule with exactly the same number of councillors as the PSD/ CDS-PP (three a-piece), with PS holding the potential deal-breaker/maker. Dialogue in Albufeira will need to be a constant.
Other ‘surprises’ came in the west: Monchique, for example, voted overwhelmingly for its incumbent PS mayor Paulo Alves, showing how important ‘personality’ is in local elections. Alves was re-elected with 65.07% of the votes (translating into only 1,967 ballot papers, but Monchique is not a borough with a large population). His result was the Algarve’s ‘largest landslide win of Sunday night’. No other party came close. Monchique remains dyed-in-the-wool Socialist for another four years.
Neighbouring municipality Aljezur has also been known for its ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ brand of Socialism. But Sunday swept that all away in a haze of popular uprising. Citizens joined the independent movement Renascer en-masse, and with former left-wing mayor Manuel Marreiros, who left politics 16 years ago, have “taken over”, in their words, to “do away with years of inaction”.
More surprises came in Vila do Bispo, where PSD’s Paula Freitas managed to unseat PS mayor Rute Silva by just 49 votes. The tiny municipality has been in Socialist hands since 2009. This was an extraordinary ‘victory’, but it again leaves the mayor’s hands fairly tied: two municipal seats go to PSD, two to the PS and one to CHEGA…
CHEGA also holds the ‘one tie break’ seat in Loulé, where the council went narrowly to the PS (by just 79 votes), but where PS and PSD both hold the same number of seats: four a-piece, with one seat for CHEGA.
These results indicate how even in ‘not winning’, CHEGA is making a difference in Portuguese politics at all levels.
The Algarve’s ‘strong PS boroughs’ – which include Lagoa, Portimão, Lagos, Olhão and Alcoutim – will not find themselves conditioned by CHEGA; nor will São Brás de Alportel or Tavira (where there are no CHEGA councillors), but Vila Real de Santo António, narrowly PS, with the same number of PSD councillors, faces the ‘one CHEGA member’ who can always vote either way, showing it could be much too early to right off the power of the far right, even if it hasn’t ‘won’ quite as much as it set out to during the election campaign.
Over the next few days, swearing-in ceremonies for the new mayors will take place.
Who’s your new mayor?
Also read: PSD demands recount following 79-vote defeat in Loulé
