André Ventura stated that he met this Friday, February 6th, with the mayor of Beja because it is a “very affected” area and with “many roads closed”, but the municipality reported reduced impacts and that all roads are passable.
The meeting with the municipality’s executive (led by a PSD/CDS-PP/IL coalition) was communicated to journalists at around 10pm on Thursday and André Ventura justified this Friday the decision to go to that municipality by claiming it was an “area that was greatly affected, in the interior of the country, where mobility is very difficult and where there are many roads closed”.
But at the end of the meeting with the presidential candidate, the mayor of Beja, Nuno Palma Ferro, painted a very different scenario, stating that there were “some constraints, annoyances”, but without any damage of greater magnitude being recorded in that municipality.
Furthermore, all roads in the municipality “are absolutely passable” and traffic “absolutely functional”, despite people still being asked to move “with caution”, he stated.
“We all prefer a beautiful sunny day to a rainy day”, noted Nuno Palma Ferro, but highlighted that, in Beja, there were only “a few small landslides” – “no more than that”.
The mayor stressed that “there is no reason for alarm” in a municipality where schools have also been operating “smoothly”.
“I think it is everyone’s duty at this moment to not only remember the big cities that are being affected, but also the interior of the country that is being very, very, very punished”, said André Ventura, before the meeting with the president of that municipality that is not covered by the state of calamity.
The candidate stated that he intended to address the preparation of the electoral process for Sunday and the response to the storms that have affected the country, at a time when he has defended the postponement of the elections for a week due to bad weather.
In the case of Beja, the president of the Chamber said that the municipality “meets all the conditions for the electoral act to be carried out on the date for which it was intended and with popular commitment and the total conditions so that the population on Sunday can exercise their right to citizenship”, refusing to comment on André Ventura’s position.
Regarding the meeting, the mayor of Beja said that they talked about the electoral process, but other topics were also discussed – namely, the municipality’s desires and needs.
Before the action, Ventura stated that “it is important that those on the ground, who are the mayors, can share” with his candidacy “what he needs and how he is prepared for the day [das eleições, domingo,] which will be very demanding.”
The president of Chega also said that in the afternoon he will be in Alcácer do Sal, one of the municipalities most affected by the floods caused by the Leonardo depression, where he will “seek to deliver help” to the affected populations of that municipality in the district of Setúbal.
In his statements, the candidate supported by Chega insisted that “people are not in a position to vote”, stressing that, next week, “everything indicates” that “weather conditions will be terribly better”.
Faced once again with the fact that he had asked for a postponement after already feeling the effects of the Kristin and Leonardo depressions, André Ventura stated that it was only recently known that a new depression “would hit the country on Saturday and Sunday”.
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