Carlos Moedas calls a meeting for the day after the elections to “not make the issue partisan”

Lisbon City Council Mayor Carlos Moedas (PSD) today rejected the opposition's request for an extraordinary meeting on Thursday regarding the Glória elevator tragedy, deciding to schedule it for October 13, the day after the local elections.

“The scheduled date is the earliest possible date to avoid partisanizing an issue that deserves all technical clarifications, as has been done,” stated Carlos Moedas (PSD), in a written response to the Lusa news agency.

At issue is a request presented on Sunday by the PS, which also includes Livre, BE and Cidadãos por Lisboa (elected by the PS/Livre coalition), for an extraordinary meeting on Thursday, September 25, to obtain “clarifications on falsehoods, omissions and inconsistencies” in the context of the Glória elevator accident.

"The Socialist Party saw the Glória elevator tragedy as an opportunity to politicize and gain votes. This alone justifies the hasty request for a third meeting on the topic, in less than three weeks!" said Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, who is running for a second term in the October 12 local elections.

The Glória elevator, in Lisbon, managed by the municipal company Carris, derailed on September 3, in an accident that caused 16 deaths and two dozen injuries, including Portuguese and foreigners of various nationalities.

In a notice published today on the municipality's website, the mayor announced the calling of an extraordinary meeting for October 13th, at 4:00 pm, with the sole point being to update information on the accident with the Glória elevator.

"In the two meetings already held, one of them exclusively with Carris management, the council members had the opportunity to ask questions and request all the information they wanted on the matter. We don't understand the meaning of this request from the Socialist Party, beyond the question of possible political leverage," said Carlos Moedas.

In this regard, the mayor reinforced that all data and elements regarding the accident with the Glória elevator are being investigated by the competent authorities and inspections, as requested from the outset.

“We remain fully available to provide information to Lisbon residents,” he explained.

The PS's request, also signed by Livre, BE and Cidadãos por Lisboa, for an extraordinary meeting came after two media reports, which specifically concerned the "occurrence of two previous accidents - in October 2024 and May 2025 - which were publicly denied by the chairman of the Board of Directors (CA) of Carris and by the vice-president of the Lisbon City Council, but which Carris itself has now confirmed".

The PCP also considered that there is contradictory information regarding the determination of responsibilities for the accident with the Glória elevator and demanded “full clarification” from the mayor, including on the public tender launched in 2022, “in view of the abnormally low price presented by the company MNTC, Lda., which won the tender for the execution of maintenance work on the elevators and lifts operated by Carris”.

According to the PCP, recent television reports testify, contrary to what was stated and guaranteed by the mayor and the Board of Directors of Carris, “the existence of evidence, including documentary evidence, which proves the presentation, at opportune moments, of well-founded warnings by organizations representing Carris workers about the poor functioning of elevator safety systems”, raising questions about the quality of the maintenance carried out.

Thus, the communist councilors proposed a hearing with representatives of the workers' organizations, a new hearing with the Carris Board of Directors to "clarify the contradictions" regarding aspects of the maintenance process, and a hearing with members of the previous Board of Directors regarding the options taken in tenders prior to 2022.