PSD: Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues' departure is late

The PSD of Gaia considered this Friday that the resignation from office announced on Thursday by the mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues (PS), is “late” and that maintaining the mayor until June reveals “attachment to power”.

In a statement, the PSD Council of Vila Nova de Gaia, states that Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues should have taken the decision to leave his post when he was convicted in the first instance and not now after the confirmation of the Constitutional Court (TC).

The Social Democrats believe that “this resistance wears down the local government and undermines trust in institutions”.

“By remaining in office until June, he demonstrates, once again, an attachment to power that is difficult to understand — an artificial extension of his mandate that only serves to postpone the inevitable,” reads the statement published on social media.

The mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, who was sentenced to loss of office for the crime of embezzlement, announced on Thursday that he will present his resignation from office in June.

In a decision announced on Monday, the TC confirmed the loss of mandate of Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues (PS), convicted of the crime of embezzlement due to improper use of a car from this municipality in the Porto district.

The decision follows an appeal filed by the mayor to the TC, after, in October 2024, the Porto Court of Appeal (TRP) upheld the conviction of loss of mandate, decided by the Vila Nova de Gaia Court in November 2023. A source from the mayor's defense then told Lusa that he will file a complaint, which, this time, will be reconsidered at a TC conference.

“He should have left a long time ago”, writes the PSD of Vila Nova de Gaia.

In the text, the social-democratic structure also criticizes the current leader of the PS in Gaia and candidate for the Chamber in the next elections, João Paulo Correia, for the content of the statement issued by the socialist on Thursday after the announcement of Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues.

“Under the leadership of Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, Vila Nova de Gaia has taken the path of getting its finances in order, achieving a balanced budget and humanising municipal policies. The municipality has found a ‘clean way out’ of the chronic debt that was limiting the actions of the City Council and parish councils”, said the PS.

But the PSD counters: “ The development seen today in Vila Nova de Gaia is not the result of the current Executive , but rather the result of a strategic vision and transformative work carried out over 16 years of PSD governance, under the leadership of Luís Filipe Menezes”.

PSD/Gaia criticizes PS/Gaia considering that it remained “conniving” and did not demand the immediate departure of the current mayor, “validating behavior that is in no way in line with the democratic and ethical values ​​that it should defend”.

Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues announced that he will leave in June after presenting the Consolidated Municipal Accounts.

He will be replaced on that date by the current vice-president, Marina Mendes, who succeeded Patrocínio Azevedo as vice-president of the Gaia City Council after he was preventively arrested as part of Operation Babel.

Elected for the first time in 2013, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues (PS) would end his third term as head of the Vila Nova de Gaia Council (Porto district) this year, and cannot run again.