The PSD-CDS-IL coalition in Loulé is calling for a recount of votes in the parish of Quarteira after losing the Loulé municipal election to the Socialist Party (PS) by just 79 votes – one of the narrowest margins in the Algarve.
Defeated candidate Hélder Martins said the coalition will request an official verification of the roughly 9,000 ballots cast in Quarteira, where Socialist candidate Telmo Pinto achieved his strongest result.
“Quarteira was the last parish to be counted,” Martins told national broadcaster SIC. “Then they had to go back because some documents were missing, which we find a little strange. We want everything to be completely legal, so we’re dealing with the matter.”
As Martins pointed out, he had been leading the vote count until the final polling station results from Quarteira arrived.
The coalition plans to submit its formal recount request by the end of the day.
If the Socialist win is confirmed, Telmo Pinto – who previously served as president of the Quarteira parish council – will become the first Quarteira native to lead the Loulé municipality.
Pinto’s final tally gave him a razor-thin victory margin of 0.26 percentage points over the centre-right coalition, securing Socialist control of Loulé for another term.
