Portugal holds municipal elections with attention on Lisbon after streetcar crash

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LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Voters in Portugal cast ballots Sunday in local elections, with attention on the mayoral race in Lisbon after a deadly streetcar crash last month.

Mayor Carlos Moedas, head of a right-of-center coalition, faces left-of-center Alexandra Leitão, a law professor, in the municipal race for a four-year term.

The vote comes after 16 people including 11 tourists were killed in a streetcar crash Sept. 3, causing a public outcry. Moedas rejected any blame and refused to resign.

Carris, the company operating the streetcar service and other public transport in the city, is overseen by Lisbon City Council.

But many say their vote is influenced far more by other issues in the city, such as housing policies and trash collection as Lisbon creaks under the strain of a surge in tourists and a steep climb in real estate prices.

“Chaotic traffic, a total mess, garbage like we hadn’t seen in many years," said José Rosa, 72. "Of course this garbage issue is the result of a series of reasons but it needs planning. Politics is not just about performing in the face of issues, it is about anticipating them.”

His vote would not be influenced by the streetcar crash, he said.

For Sandra Almeida, one of the main issues is housing. “Us Lisbonites, we cannot live in Lisbon, we are being expelled from our own city,” she said. The streetcar crash would not influence her vote either, she said. "It was an accident that happened, I think it’s not related to political parties.”

An official investigation into the crash is focusing on whether poor maintenance was to blame for problems with the streetcar’s brakes and a safety cable.

“We’re talking about mechanical failures, not political responsibility,” Moedas said before the election.

He refused to convene a session with city councilors to discuss the crash before Sunday’s election, saying he didn’t want the tragedy to become a political football.

Lisbon voter Ana Btelho said the streetcar crash “only reinforced my opinion of the person representing us on the City Hall at the moment, and I think he represents us quite badly.”

Moedas, 55, is viewed as a rising star in Portugal’s center-right Social Democratic Party and widely regarded as a potential future prime minister. After earning a Harvard MBA, Moedas worked for Goldman Sachs and later set up his own investment management fund.

After a brief spell as a junior government minister and as a lawmaker, he became in 2014 a European commissioner in charge of the bloc’s research, innovation and science arm. His election as mayor four years ago was a common career route for politicians eyeing higher office, with political responsibility for the capital regarded as a steppingstone.

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Associated Press writer Barry Hatton contributed to this report.