“Serving the community that I love, that I know and that motivates me every day is a great honour for me. I will continue to be an approachable, available and attentive mayor. A mayor who listens, who acts, who governs with his heart, but also with the rigour of reason. I will be the mayor of all the people of Famalicão.” These are the words of Mário Passos, who yesterday took office for his second term at the helm of Vila Nova de Famalicão Municipal Council.
At the Municipal Assembly session to inaugurate the new local government bodies (Council and Assembly) for the 2025-2029 term, Mário Passos spoke of a term of continuity, but at the same time of renewal.
‘This new term gives us the opportunity to deepen policies and consolidate the many structural projects we have underway in Health, Education, Environment, Housing and Sport, but it will also be a term of renewal, with new ideas, new projects and new ways of governing, always with transparency, dialogue and a sense of responsibility from those who will not compromise the future of the next generations,’ he said.
Before a packed audience at Casa das Artes, the mayor of Famalicão also assured that the municipal executive will continue to ‘work tirelessly’ to fulfil the commitments made to the people of Famalicão and to ‘continue to make Famalicão a municipality of progress, quality of life, sustainable development and equal opportunities, a true territory of happiness’.
The Municipal Assembly for the inauguration of the elected members of the Council and Assembly was chaired by the re-elected President of the Assembly, João Nascimento.
In addition to the 11 members who will join the municipal executive - Mário Passos (President), Hélder Pereira, Susana Pereira, Augusto Lima, Pedro Oliveira, Vânia Marçal (PSD/CDS-PP coalition), Eduardo Oliveira, Cláudia Vieira, Ivo Sá Machado, Neide Vieira (PS) and Pedro Alves (Chega) - the 40 deputies elected to the Municipal Assembly also took office. The 39 parish council presidents elected in the local elections on 12 October also joined the assembly.
The session was closed by João Nascimento, who assured that he would continue to perform the duties of President of the Municipal Assembly ‘with the rigour that the position demands, with the necessary determination, transparency, humility and, above all, loyalty to all’.
It should be noted that Mário Passos, from the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, won the municipal elections with 49.68% of the votes, earning the trust of 41,197 voters in Famalicão. João Nascimento, from the same coalition, won the Municipal Assembly with 46.49% of the votes (38,550 votes).
Born in the parish of Nine in 1966, Mário Passos is a teacher with a degree and doctorate in Science (Physics and Chemistry) from the University of Minho. As a councillor between 2009 and 2021, he was responsible for areas such as Sport, Parishes, Youth, Housing and Administrative Modernisation. In 2021, he was elected Mayor.
