Election night surprise. Carlos Moedas is Lisbon’s new mayor
Early projections indicated a technical tie between Medina and Moedas, but the Social Democrat ended up winning the local elections in Lisbon.
Carlos Moeda has won the race for the municipality of Lisbon. The candidate of the “New Times” coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/Aliança/MPT/PPM) is the new mayor of the country’s capital, dethroning the Socialist Fernando Medina. The polls conducted during the campaign gave the latter the victory, so the results caused some surprise.
“It is an unquestionable personal and political victory for Carlos Moedas, to whom I have already called and expressed my congratulations,” announced Fernando Medina in the early hours of this Monday. The Socialist candidate states he leaves with a “clear conscience” because he has given “everything he knows” to serve the people of Lisbon at a “particularly demanding” time. “We have the deep conviction that the agenda we followed was the right agenda for the future of the city of Lisbon,” the politician added.
The first projections cited by RTP, TVI and SIC/Expresso pointed to a technical tie between Carlos Moedas and Fernando Medina, contrary to the expectations created by the polls conducted during the campaign period, which gave a clear victory (although without an absolute majority) to the Socialist.
“We won against everything and everyone”
“We won against everything and everyone,” Carlos Moedas said at the beginning of his speech, adding that he was proud of the elections’ results. “We have made history today in Lisbon. I have no words to thank the vote of confidence given to me by the people of Lisbon,” he emphasised, pledging to “change Lisbon”.
The former European Commissioner thanked in particular the leader of the PSD, Rui Rio, and the leader of the CDS-PP, Francisco Rodrigues dos Santos. After thanking them, Carlos Moedas stressed: “This campaign is proof that we can change the system because democracy has no owner and the people of Lisbon have said loud and clear that they want to change”.
Specifically, about Portugal’s capital, the politician assured that he will be the “president of all Lisboners” and stated that he will always be available to work with those who change Lisbon. Carlos Moedas also guaranteed that he will protect the elderly and give a future to the young people. “I bet everything on a single hope, the hope that politics is changing and wants different politicians. It is this difference that made us win,” he told.
Questioned by journalists, the Social Democrat stressed that “for 14 years the municipality of Lisbon had been governed by Socialist power. It is a historic change.”
