Lisbon Culture Councilor suspended mandate at Carlos Moedas’ request | CDS-PP

The councilor for Culture of the Lisbon City Council (CML), Diogo Moura, suspended his mandate, at the request of the mayor, Carlos Moedas, days after being accused of the crime of fraud in internal CDS-PP elections.

The president of the CML, Carlos Moedas (PSD), in a written statement sent to Lusa, reveals that he asked Diogo Moura “to suspend his mandate, a request that he immediately agreed to”. Diogo Moura (CDS-PP) was accused by the Public Ministry (MP) of crimes of fraud in two internal Christian Democrat elections.

In the note sent to Lusa today, Carlos Moedas explains that, “despite the allegations made against him [a Diogo Moura] do not report to the person in charge as a councilor”, he considers “there are no conditions for the councilor to continue developing his work in favor of the people of Lisbon”.

The mayor praises “the excellent work, commitment and dedication” of Diogo Moura over the last two and a half years as councilor, “in areas such as innovation, economy and culture”.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office accused Diogo Moura, who is also vice-president of the CDS-PP, of “two crimes of fraud in elections, aggravated”, for having allegedly sought to manipulate the votes of activists in two electoral acts (2019 and 2021), according to CNN Portugal reported on Thursday.

According to that television channel, Diogo Moura “knew that a secretary from the Lisbon district was at the polling station and sent several messages to her asking her to introduce votes from activists who did not present themselves at the polling station into the ballot box.” .

However, according to CNN Portugal, “the district secretary never acceded to the requests” and the case ended up being reported and investigated by the PSP, with the centrist mayor now being formally accused by the 4th section of the DIAP (Department of Investigation and Criminal Action) of Lisbon.

Still on Thursday, in a reaction to CNN Portugal, Diogo Moura stated that he was never “convicted” or “judged”, “not even pronounced”, assuring that he was “absolutely innocent”.

On Friday, the PS and the Bloco de Esquerda defended the dismissal of Diogo Moura. The Lisbon council of the PS recalled, in a statement sent to Lusa, that, “on April 24, 2021, in an interview with PÚBLICO, Carlos Moedas guaranteed that as president of the Chamber, a councilor who is under suspicion of any type of case”.

“None of this happens now, with a formal judicial accusation, in what is the cotton test of Carlos Moedas’ word”, read the socialists’ note. The PS, which has three elected members in the Lisbon Chamber, demanded that Diogo Moura be immediately removed “from coordinating electoral acts in the municipality”.

The Bloco de Esquerda, also in a note sent to Lusa, also considered that Diogo Moura “does not have the conditions to maintain political functions in the municipality of Lisbon”, urging Carlos Moedas to replace the mayor in the position.