Mayor of the twin city for another five years Leiria
Rheine/Leiria. With a convincing vote of confidence, Leirias Mayor Goncalo Lopes was confirmed in office for a further five years at the weekend. With his party PS – comparable to the SPD in Germany – he achieved 54 percent of the vote. This even improved on the result of the 2021 election. The PS still has an absolute majority in the Camera Municipal. However, the Chega party achieved a notable success: twice as many citizens voted for the far-right party as five years ago, and with 11.5% of the vote, the party also gained a deputy in the city parliament.
The mayor and the victorious PS celebrated their success at the Santana market. The vote of confidence was one of the greatest gestures of responsibility that could be received. In his first speech, Goncalo Lopes promised that the Executive would reward every vote “with work, with results and with truth”. Looking to the future, Lopes announced that the city leadership would try to unite all Leirias for the future. He is satisfied with the majority achieved, as he has an experienced team in the city council to develop the important projects.
Twenty young pupils from Rheine witnessed the results of the election as if they were witnesses. They arrived in the Portuguese twin city on Tuesday and are spending a week there with Portuguese host families. The program began with a reception in the town hall of Leiria, where a visibly relaxed and cheerful Mayor Goncalo Lopes took a lot of time for the guests, gave them a detailed introduction to Leiria and also mentioned his good contacts to Rheines Mayor Peter Lüttmann. (Detailed report to follow).