Francisco Amaral will resign within a week from his position of mayor of Castro Marim.
The resignation takes effect from February 21, and the Council estimates that an election will be held in May.
Amaral has long complained that the balance of power in the executive is such that he is thwarted at every step he taken when wanting to get things done. He blames an opposition cabal of, "destroying and boycotting" the work of the executive, so sees it necessary to let the people decide, hoping for an absolute majority so he can function without undue hindrance.
Amaral is resigning, along with the entire executive, to enable a full local election.
The mayor was elected in 2017, was without a majority. The executive is Amaral and vice-president Filomena Sintra, while the opposition had three Councillors - two from the Socialist Party and one from the CM1 movement, led by former president Jose Estevens.
"It is noticeable, clearly, that there is an opposition coalition that is there only to boycott the action of the executive and to destroy things. The opposition has blocked the skills that any mayor has, there are works that are on hold, Council meetings have turned into authentic massacres of five or six hours where nothing concrete is discussed. In December we adopted the March minutes ... it is shameful and the people are fed up with it. Therefore, we will give the floor to the people," explained Francisco Amaral.
