Local elections: Paulo Alves re-runs for the Socialist Party for the Monchique Municipal Council

Paulo Alves will run again for the presidency of the Monchique Municipal Council , after having managed to regain the leadership of that municipality for the Socialist Party ( PS ) in the last local elections, it was announced today.

The 55-year-old bank manager, who is running for a second term, broke a 12-year cycle of PSD governance in the Monchique City Council in 2021, preceded by an uninterrupted 27-year period of socialist leadership, between 1982 and 2009.

In a statement, the Monchique Socialist Party Political Committee said that Paulo Alves's name as head of the list for the local authority was unanimously approved at a meeting held on Thursday evening, July 24, "with the determination and commitment to continue to make Monchique better together."

Married and father of two children, Paulo Alves was involved in the associative movement in Monchique for several years, namely in the National Scout Corps (CNE), and, more recently, in the Juventude Desportiva Monchiquense, as a leader, the municipality in which he was born and has always lived.

According to the Monchique Socialist Party Political Committee, José Gonçalo will run again for the Monchique Parish Council and Eleutério Torrado for the Marmelete Parish Council, with Nuno Guerreiro being the candidate for the Alferce Parish Council and Graça Mira being the head of the list for the Municipal Assembly in the elections on October 12th.

In the September 2021 elections, the PS managed to achieve an absolute majority in Monchique, electing three of the five councilors, obtaining 49.61 percent of the votes.

The second most voted party was the PSD, with 21.50 percent of the votes, which elected one councilor, with the CDS-PP being the third most voted political force, also electing one councilor.

Before 2021, Paulo Alves had already been in the running for mayor in the 2017 local elections, as an independent supported by the PS, but lost to Rui André (PSD).

In 2009, the social democrat managed to dethrone Carlos Tuta (PS), who was first elected in 1983 and who, at the time, was the longest-serving mayor in the region.

The local elections are scheduled for October 12th.