Estrada do Lapão is one of 22 roads closed in the municipality, in addition to ten other roads with restricted traffic, according to information provided by local civil protection. This Sunday, the just over 12 thousand voters in Arruda dos Vinhos will not vote. With 42 people displaced from Lapão, but also from other villages, all resulting from landslides caused by soil saturation, and the difficulties for some inhabitants in moving around in an “increasingly isolated” municipality, as mayor Carlos Alves told Lusa, the day is not for voting.
A little more than a league from Lapão, in the center of Arruda, at Bar Rezas, frequented by local youth, bad weather is a topic at the table. Regarding the postponement of the elections, there is almost unanimity at the two tables occupied on the terrace. José Neto, an employee at the establishment, comes from a town in the parish of Santiago dos Velhos and understands well how difficult it is for people to get around the municipality, as there are many impassable roads.
Inês Tenreiro, who lives in the county seat, is the dissenting voice: “There is always a way to go and vote.” At the next table, another Inês, nicknamed Coelho, agrees with the postponement and guarantees that she will vote next Sunday. Employees and customers at the other table also guarantee that they will fulfill their duty to vote, despite knowing that the election has already been decided. But will the conditions be met on the 15th? “I don’t think much will change,” admits Rogério Reis, a bar employee.
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