Local elections. Lina Bettencourt is Chega's candidate for Calheta.

Businesswoman Lina Bettencourt, 41, Chega's candidate for the Calheta City Council, on the island of São Jorge, Azores, said this Monday that she is running for the municipality's leadership to give the population a voice and define priorities.

"Chega is a new party here, the PSD's list is very strong, and so is the PS's, but we want to have a voice within the municipality. My goal, that of my party and my team, is to have a voice in the municipality, because the people are asking for it," the candidate for the October 12th local elections told Lusa news agency this Monday.

The manager of a local store in Ribeira Seca, in the municipality of Calheta, has a technical degree in secretarial work and customer service and is entering politics for the first time so that the municipality can "help those in need" and "be closer to the population."

Lina Bettencourt said that the City Council has done and presented “many beautiful things”, but it is necessary to address people’s “misfortunes”, such as the case of a family with four children, one of them six years old and suffering from epilepsy, who “has been asking for 20 years for the entrance to their house to be cemented”, whose path “looks like a stream, it’s just mud”.

When it is necessary to call the fire department, “the ambulance cannot reach the door” of the house and the parents have to carry the child “to the side of the road,” he reported.

The candidate expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation, as she noted that there are agricultural roads in the municipality that “are absolutely perfect and are paved.”

"Even if I don't stay in the Chamber [as president or as a councilor], that path will have to be forged. This shouldn't have happened years ago, and first, we have to reach these people who need help," she emphasized.

In Lina Bettencourt's opinion, when the municipality of Calheta decides to move forward with projects, first "it needs to know what is most urgent, not just tourism."

"We need tourism; our island is beautiful and needs to be constantly promoted accordingly. But first comes the year-round population, who need help. And that's our goal. Even if I stay as a councilwoman, to have a voice within the executive branch and, when I think something isn't right, to say that other things need to be done first," she said.

The Chega candidate promises to "always speak for those who don't have a voice" and is concerned about the lack of housing and the need for measures to keep people in the area.

According to Lina Bettencourt, there are many vacant homes in the municipality of Calheta "that can be repaired," but municipal support will be needed for their reconstruction.

On the other hand, the Chega candidate advocates for a reorganization of the municipality's construction licensing department, stating that "there are many projects that are stalled" and others that "take a long time to be resolved" and that businesspeople who want to invest in the municipality encounter "a lot of bureaucracy."

Lina Bettencourt also proposes measures to keep young people in the municipality of São Jorge, claiming that, when they leave the island, they can find jobs that provide a “better quality of life” and “no one wants to return.”

The Calheta Municipal Council is chaired by Décio Pereira, elected by the independent movement “Dar Vida ao Concelho”, who is serving his third term and cannot run again.

Currently, the municipal executive has three elected members from the “Dar Vida ao Concelho” movement and two councilors from the PS.

In addition to Lina Bettencourt, António Viegas (PSD), Dário Ambrósio (PS) and António Salgado Almeida, from the CDU (PCP/PEV coalition), are running for mayor.

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