The Braga PS council separated itself from Catarina Miranda, a politician who had been part of the socialist lists in coalition with the PAN, but who accepted João Rodrigues’ invitation to be on the municipal executive in Braga.
“The decision by councilor Catarina Miranda to join the Municipal Executive under an invitation from the Coalition Together for Braga represents an obvious political mismatch and a profound misreading of responsibility, commitment and a sense of loyalty and, above all, in the face of the more than 26 thousand people from Braga who trusted us with their vote”, highlights in a statement sent to newsrooms the council, led by Pedro Sousa.
“The formal freedom of the mandate does not erase the ethical and moral responsibility of respecting the will that gave rise to it (…), accepting to join the Municipal Executive through an external invitation to the political force that elected her constitutes, unquestionably, a clear deviation from that responsibility”, continues the PS.
The socialists also target João Rodrigues, president elected by around 300 more votes, with the coalition between PSD, CDS-PP and PPM: “It is important to emphasize that, throughout this process, since the Inauguration, the PS was never contacted by the Mayor of the City Council.”
With just three of 11 mandates, João Rodrigues handed over three responsibilities to Catarina Miranda, in this case Culture, Cultural Heritage and Artistic Education. Now, politics becomes independent. It was the second on António Braga’s list, who chose not to serve as councilor. As such, numbers 1 and 2 socialists are no longer part of the team, leaving Pedro Sousa and alternate Martinha Rocha as opposition councilors.
João Rodrigues now has four of 11 mandates, but continues to depend on agreements. As far as DN knows, Ricardo Silva’s movement, which has three councilors, continues in negotiations.
The man who governed one of the most important parishes in Braga, achieving a surprising result in the elections, wants the three elements to enter the Executive. For João Rodrigues, only two would be needed.
“At the end of this first round of meetings, held under the terms I had defined, I decided to assign responsibilities to whoever I assigned. This does not mean, I repeat, that the dialogue does not continue, does not continue, there cannot be changes to this delegation of powers, there cannot be an expansion of this delegation of powers. Now, that does not depend on me alone”, João Rodrigues highlighted to the Press this Thursday, not ruling out the possibility of increasing the team of councilors, refusing to be playing a “shadow game”, noting that the “meetings were opened”.