CDU candidate defeated in the September Local Elections asked the Administrative and Fiscal Court for the president to lose her mandate in the Parish Council elected by the PS.
Living up to the old saying that Portuguese “is a treacherous language”, the defeated candidate of the Unitarian Democratic Coalition (CDU) to the Parish Council of Figueira de Cavaleiros, Ferreira do Alentejo county, resorted to court proceedings to request the loss of office of the winning candidate in the last municipal elections.
At issue is the fact that in the notice for the installation of municipal bodies sent to elected representatives, instead of the word "summons" it is "invite", what for Sílvia Cavaco “makes all the difference”. To the "error" of the word, add to the facts that it was not the outgoing president of the Parish Assembly to convene the installation act and that the place where it took place was changed.
In an Urgent Administrative Action filed in the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) Beja, the CDU's head of the list is initiating an electoral litigation action against the Parish Council of Figueira de Cavaleiros and another one for loss of mandate against Juvenália Salgado, the president elected by the Socialist Party (PS).
Sílvia Cavaco maintains that "invite and summon are two words with different meanings", considering that the verbal use employed "is not unimportant", which can have different consequences, namely “at the level of absences of the elected, which can lead to loss of mandate", justify.
In the petition sent to TAFBeja, the claimant "challenges" the letter sent to the elected officials, considering that the formalities of convening the installation and first meeting of the Parish Assembly "have not been complied with the legal requirements". The defeated candidate for the presidency of the board, defends the “loss of mandate” of Juvenália Salgado and that the installation acts are “null”., the first meetings and election for the various bodies of the parish.
In the contest delivered to TAFBeja, the winning candidate considers the use of the words invite and summon and that regarding the contested acts as "precious" on the part of the adversary, the same "was present, took office and did not ask for any correction", by which "all legal effects" were fulfilled, concluded. No document, Juvenália Salgado, justifies that administrative actions for electoral litigation and for loss of warrants must be "judged unfounded".
Lidador Notícias found that the Public Prosecutor's Office at TAF Beja issued an opinion in which he outright rejects Sílvia Cavaco's claims considering them “totally unfounded”. The magistrate begins by appraising the electoral litigation action, where he argues that in order for a mandate to be lost, it will be necessary to have "illegalities in the pre-electoral and electoral domain", what didn't happen.
As for the call converted to "invitation", maintains that the language used, don't have to follow a "sacred formula", also considering that "there is no doubt" as to the validity of the document issued by Juvenália Salgado.
The parties are now awaiting the final decision of the judge of the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) Beja.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
