President Marcelo has stressed today that there are potentially more reasons to vote in Sunday’s municipal elections than normal
With polling stations opening from 8am tomorrow, these are the elections in which many foreign residents are also eligible to vote (as long as they registered to do so in time) – and this year, Portugal’s head of state believes there are even more reasons for people to make the effort to do so.
In a statement to the country from Belém Palace today, he said: “the next four years will be decisive for the use of money from Brussels, first and foremost, from the Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR)”, of which “just over €9 billion has already been applied, but in total there are €23 billion” – and “a good part” of these resources will pass through local authorities.
“In this year of 2025, not voting is giving up a unique opportunity to benefit from a financial situation that is unrepeatable,” he said in his last presidential message on the eve of elections (Marcelo’s mandate comes to an end in the New Year).
The appeal is really to citizens to think carefully about in whose hands they believe such unrepeatable funds should be placed. As Marcelo reiterated, these are “millions that will never come back”.
The official campaign for the local elections ended yesterday for more than 800 citizen groups and political forces, which have nominated around 12,860 lists for local government positions across the country.
In the elections, which take place between 8:00 and 19:00 tomorrow, voters will choose the governing bodies of 308 municipal councils, 308 municipal assemblies and 3,221 parish assemblies.
Another 37 parishes will choose their executive in citizens’ plenary sessions, as they have fewer than 150 voters.
Source material: LUSA
