Paulo Raimundo says that “people are tired and disbelieving”

The PCP secretary general stated, in Faro , that people are “tired and rightly discredited”, being pushed towards easy ways out, appealing to them to refuse “lies and illusions”.

“People are tired of promises that are repeated election after election”, when “everyone’s life is increasingly tighter and everyone’s life is going further and further backwards”, said Paulo Raimundo, who was speaking at a CDU rally in Faro.

In the district won by Chega in the 2024 legislative elections, the PCP's secretary-general considered that people “are rightly discredited”, being “pushed towards resignation, they are pushed towards easy ways out, towards illusions, towards demagogy and lies”.

“It’s like this all over the country and it’s like this here in the Algarve too, but this doesn’t, can’t and won’t continue like this”, he stressed.

In this sense, he appealed to the population to “put their foot down on the table” to turn the “board of this rigged game” and “reject lies, demagogy, illusions”.

“Give more strength to the lives of each and every one, give more strength to the Democratic Unitary Coalition”, defended Paulo Raimundo, who called for the election of teacher Catarina Marques by the CDU in Faro, a district where he has not elected since 2015.

The CDU's leader in Faro criticized the “tourism monoculture” in the region, the difficulties in accessing housing, mobility problems and the lack of investment in the health sector.

“It is necessary and possible to recover the deputy for the Algarve”, said Catarina Marques.

In 2024, the CDU had less than half the votes in Faro compared to 2015, having been the sixth most voted political force in the last elections, in which Chega, PS and AD obtained three deputies each.

Election of the Pope

The PCP secretary general also stated that he hopes that the new Pope, Leo XIV, can continue the legacy of Pope Francis, who left his mark in the defense of the environment, social rights and peace.

The new Pope has “a great responsibility, which is the legacy of the previous Pope, Pope Francis, from issues of environmental protection, issues of social rights, issues of peace”.

Paulo Raimundo admitted that he was unfamiliar with the new Pope, but said that from what he had been told, he appears to be “a Pope following in the footsteps of the previous Pope”, a man focused on issues of “social justice, peace, environmental protection and the rights of the most disadvantaged”.

The PCP general secretary also considered that this is “a very relevant decision, first and foremost for Catholics, but not only”.

Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was elected Pope after a two-day conclave in Vatican City and took the name Leo XIV.

Born in Chicago, United States, the new Pope has Spanish ancestry and Peruvian nationality, and belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine.