‘It is time for peace’, says Sebastião Melo, elected mayor of Porto Alegre | 2020 elections in Rio Grande do Sul

“It is time for peace. We are going to make a peaceful transition. Mayor Marchezan will welcome us tomorrow afternoon, in a demonstration that we are going to start the transition tomorrow. Everything that goes well, starting with Covid, we will keep. “.

“I want to visit the governor on Tuesday to warn him that the government and the city will go together. And I want to speak, on Wednesday, with the president, to symbolize that we want to govern with unity. Ideology does not solve problems. what solves is commitment, seriousness, “said Melo.

The mayor of Porto Alegre, Nelson Marchezan Jr, congratulated Melo on a social network. “I wish luck to the elected candidate Sebastião Melo in the next 4 years at the helm of the City Council.”

Among the proposals for the transition, he says that he intends to convene the City Council in an extraordinary way, on January 1, to vote on an administrative reform.

“We are going to advance two projects: cancel the increases in IPTU and propose a Refis (Incentive Program for Tax Regularization) for those who could not pay taxes during the pandemic, and if any business was fined for working during the pandemic, we will exempt all These I will also call all public transport operators. We will deal with the collapse of public transport, which is one of the most immediate things. You cannot wait there at the beginning of the government, it has to be in transition, “he said.

Melo also cited the need to create a pandemic care committee on Covid-19. It considers that the federal government will acquire the vaccines that are under development in 2021, but if it does not, it intends to create a consortium with municipalities in the Metropolitan Region to make its own acquisition.

However, he anticipated that he should not close commercial establishments if the risk of contagion increases.

“The economy and health must go together. The city cannot take this opening and closing any more. We will deal with a lot of balance. It is not on our radar to close the city. We will maintain the equipment, the necessary insulation, but the economy must rotate “. “he says.

During the explanation, Melo also recalled the defeats in the elections for councilor and mayor, in the last elections, when he was defeated by Marchezan in the second round. It moved him to remember the trajectory of politics in Porto Alegre.

“In 1978, I got off here, on a bus from Penha. I had left Goiás and came to win this city in life. I was just a high school student, I started as a clerk in a snack bar, I carried boxes at dawn in Ceasa. I became a combative lawyer in this The city made me three times councilor, deputy mayor, deputy and, today, elected mayor. Thanks Porto Alegre! I’ll give you back double what you gave me, ”said Melo.

For the first of January, when he officially assumed office, Melo promised to go to the Mário Quintana neighborhood to carry out some actions that symbolize the changes in the Capital. “I will be a mayor who will seek out those who need it most,” he said.

Finally, Melo thanked the councilors and other candidates who supported him, and mentioned the candidate Manuela D´Ávila, with whom he disputed the second round of the elections. “It was legitimate for the second round and I have a personal relationship. My recognition to Mrs. Manuela,” he said.

Melo was elected with 370,550 votes, equivalent to 54.63% of the valid votes. Manuela D’Ávila, from the PCdoB, obtained 307,745 votes, or 45.37% of the valid votes.

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