Voting in Portugal

EDITOR ,Thank you for encouraging foreign residents to vote in Portugal’s municipal elections this fall. I agree that this participation is important for everyone who lives here.

However, all three of the above-mentioned writers missed an important point: Americans who reside in Portugal (and who are not yet citizens) are not allowed to vote. As Reeve wrote, voting rights are granted only to those people residing in Portugal who hail from countries that allow Portuguese residents to vote in their countries of residence.

The U.S. does not allow any non-citizens the right to vote. Thus, we Americans are not allowed to participate in the municipal elections in this country until we are granted Portuguese citizenship.

I think it’s important for writers of The Portugal News to remember that not all of your readers are British. The omission of the rules for citizens of other countries can cause confusion and the spread of misinformation.

Thank you again for your newspaper’s commitment to promoting democracy and civic engagement.

Kelly Hayes-Raitt, Alcobaça. By email

Re: Voting

Editor, In regards to Geoff Cook’s email recently concerning he was turned away from Albufeira local council office to register to vote in local elections. I’m confused why Geoff living in Portugal since 1988 and according to him has been interested in local politics he never registered to vote. Unless he has moved around in the country all EU and UK citizens could vote in local, mayoral and European elections (when we were members of the EU) since the 1990s here in Portugal and in the UK. Besides Albufeira has a large British community in the town so the council officials should know the correct law to apply for British citizens residing in Portugal.

Edward Santos, Aroeira, By email

Dress Code

EDITOR, I applaud the decision of Albufeira City Council to adopt a stricter dress code and to ban drinking in the streets.

Unfortunately, the situation in Vilamoura seems to be getting worse as topless males and scantily dressed females (frequently drinking cans and bottles of beer in the town centre now appear to be the norm as opposed to the exception. Vilamoura prides itself as being one of the top marinas and tourist destinations in the world but the sight of the aforementioned individuals does nothing to enhance its reputation and, if anything, discourages many holiday makers from visiting or returning.

I would implore the powers that be in Vilamoura to follow Albufeira’s lead on this subject.

Name and Address Withheld, By email

Cataracts

EDITOR, Having read Ray Scott’s letter in edition
19 July concerning CATARACTS, I would like to add my experience.

Before my operation here in the Algarve, apart from the slight inconvenience of the cataract in my right eye, I had near perfect vision. I had reading glasses but could read most things without, did not need glasses for the computer or television or driving and my long vision was extraordinarily perfect. I did not need glasses for cinema or theatre or even standing at the top of Monchique where I could pick out things on the coast line. Now I cannot see clearly more than 15/20 metres, it is as if continually looking through dirty lenses that sometime I wonder if both lenses are compatible. I also keep a magnifying glass at hand. I would also turn back the clock if I could. On my last yearly check-up with the surgeon, he assures me all is in order, “well he would wouldn’t he!”

Gerry Atkins, By email

Renting a Car

EDITOR, Tourists thinking of renting a car in Portugal should be warned of this situation that has been going on for many years, where car rental companies will sell, at additional cost, a toll service in which a transponder fitted to the vehicle is activated for registering when passing toll gates on the bigger roads.

On returning the car and having it signed off with any incurred tolls settled, the customer will return home unaware that some tolls still haven’t been deducted, and that months or even years later, official looking letters sent to them from a company with a registered office in central London, UK, and postal address in Hayes, called Euro Parking Collection PLC (EPC).

There are hundreds of posts on Internet discussion threads complaining about this company, who buy up ’unpaid tolls’. EPC sends out letters demanding payment for these, come with extortionate ’administration fees’ added. The letters are often described as ’fraudulent’ as EPC uses terms such as ’Statutory Fine’ in an attempt to frighten the hapless motorist into paying up, when in fact these are no more than invoices which wouldn’t exist if the toll operators relayed the information to the car rental companies in time in the first place.

ECP are not interested in appeals or evidence that tolls have been paid, they only send out more letters with increasingly threatening language. Advice given has been to ignore these letters and treat them as a scam. ECP are not the Police nor a Court of Law and have no authority whatsoever to issue fines.

These unpleasant ’souvenirs’ from Portugal do nothing to enhance the reputation of the country, discourage return trips thus lowering income from tourism, and the question arises as to why the Portuguese Government hasn’t clamped down on this.

Ross Turner, Himanka, Finland, By email