Municipal leadership from the founding of the municipality to the present, including the transitional administrative commissions.
The first president of the new municipality, established in November 1945. The municipal-library chronology begins his term in 1946; the academic register uses 1945. A March 1946 official notice confirms him in office.
A railway technical employee and former parish president, José Duarte Coelho led the municipality during its early consolidation. He supported the creation of the volunteer fire brigade in 1948. The railway gazette records his departure from office on 14 November 1959.
A captain who led the municipality before Eugénio Dias Poitout. The municipal-library chronology gives 1960–1961, while the academic register begins in 1959 and spells his surname Pedroso. Presidential archive telegrams document municipal correspondence from this period.
Poitout led the council during the final years of the Estado Novo. The municipal chronology starts in 1962; the academic register uses 1961. The municipal library opened on 29 May 1965 during his administration, an enduring part of the city’s cultural life.
Fernando Gomes dos Santos appears in January 1974 official records as vice-president acting for the president. The historical register also identifies him as head of the administrative commission in 1974–1975, during the transition following the April Revolution.
A municipal exhibition account identifies Joaquim Ferreira Purgatório Júnior among the leaders of the transitional administrative commissions. It mentions June 1975, but its dates overlap with those given for Carlos Pereira Lucas. His exact period in office therefore remains uncertain; the photograph was supplied by the website owner.
A pharmacist and owner of a local pharmacy, Carlos Pereira Lucas headed the administrative commission in 1975–1976, before the first democratic local elections. He later remained involved in local Socialist Party politics. He died in August 2006.
António Pereira Cardoso, identified in municipal records as António Augusto Pereira Cardoso, was Entroncamento’s first elected mayor after the restoration of democratic local government. He won office for the Socialist Party in the 1976 local elections and served from January 1977 to August 1978. National lists place him within the 1976–1979 electoral cycle, a broader range than his documented service.
Following his death in June 2021, the municipality declared two days of mourning, and both the executive and Municipal Assembly observed a minute’s silence. The municipal tribute remembered his dedication to Entroncamento.
Afonso Serrão Lopes was elected mayor of Entroncamento for the Socialist Party in 1979; national municipal records list his term as 1979–1982. His clearest documented civic legacy is the garden now named Jardim Afonso Serrão Lopes, widely known as the Jardim da Zona Verde. The municipality credits his administration with commissioning its construction on land donated by Dr. Picciochi Garcia.
His successor, Manuel Fanha Vieira, inaugurated the garden in the 1980s. Its trees, planted areas and small artificial lake made it a lasting public space associated with his name.
Manuel Fanha Vieira was born in Entroncamento on 20 June 1934 and worked in accounting and insurance. After serving as a full-time councillor from 1979 to 1982, he became mayor for the Socialist Party in 1982–1985. During his presidency he inaugurated the Jardim Afonso Serrão Lopes, continuing a project begun under his predecessor. His later public service centered on the Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Entroncamento, which he led until 2016.
With his team, he improved the hospital and existing care home and developed a new home and continuing-care unit. The latter bears his name and began operating in September 2010. He died on 1 June 2019, aged 84, leaving a legacy in both municipal government and community care.
José Pereira da Cunha was born on 14 December 1931 and worked on the railways, continuing a family occupation. After the 1974 revolution he helped organize Entroncamento’s first Municipal Assembly, then served as a councillor. Elected for the Socialist Party, he was mayor from January 1986 to December 2001 across four terms. Entroncamento became a city in 1991 during his presidency.
He also signed the municipality’s twinning agreement with Mosteiros, Cape Verde, in 1997; Mosteiros honored him in 2019 for helping establish cooperation between the municipalities. After an unsuccessful independent candidacy in 2001, he withdrew from active politics. He died in May 2024, aged 92, and Entroncamento marked his service with two days of municipal mourning.
Jaime Manuel Gonçalves Ramos served as mayor of Entroncamento from 2001 to 2013, representing the Social Democratic Party. Before becoming mayor, he worked for Banco Pinto e Sotto Mayor and entered the municipal council as an opposition councillor in 1993. His public life also includes a long association with local football: he played for Ferroviários and CADE and was a founding member of the Clube Amador de Desportos do Entroncamento.
In July 2013 he was appointed president of the National Railway Museum Foundation, a role he continued to hold during 2017. His foundation presidency covered the museum's opening in May 2015 and its subsequent development as a public institution. He returned to the municipal executive as an opposition councillor in 2017, while remaining involved in the city's sporting and railway institutions.
Jorge Manuel Alves de Faria is an economist and higher-education teacher who served as mayor of Entroncamento from October 2013 until 31 January 2025. He holds an economics degree from the Technical University of Lisbon, a master's degree in socio-organisational systems of economic activity and a doctorate in business management from the University of Évora. His academic career included teaching at the Polytechnic Institute of Santarém and the University of Évora, and leading Santarém's management school between July 2006 and April 2011.
Alongside his municipal responsibilities, he served on the boards of the National Railway Museum Foundation and Águas do Vale do Tejo. He also chaired the regional waste-management company RSTJ in 2019–2020. Elected for the Socialist Party, he completed two mayoral terms and part of a third before resigning; deputy mayor Ilda Joaquim succeeded him.
Ilda Maria Pinto Rodrigues Joaquim was Entroncamento's first woman mayor, serving from 1 February to 24 October 2025. A law graduate, she had been a Socialist Party councillor since 2013 and had also served as deputy mayor before succeeding Jorge Faria following his resignation. As mayor, her responsibilities included municipal coordination, finance, urban planning, public works, water and sanitation, civil protection and the National Railway Museum.
In May 2025 she signed an agreement with the museum foundation for the use of the restored Bairro do Boneco, supporting plans for railway documentation and museum facilities. In July she marked the start of two major municipal construction projects: redevelopment near the railway museum, including a new library, and a primary school with kindergarten provision. These initiatives had been prepared over several years and were still projects in progress during her presidency.
Nelson José Estrela Lopes Cunha became mayor of Entroncamento on 24 October 2025, elected for Chega. He studied sociology at the University of Coimbra's Faculty of Economics and undertook an Erasmus exchange at Goethe University in Frankfurt. Before entering municipal leadership, he built a career in business operations, project management and team supervision in Portugal and abroad. He spent several years working in England and returned to Portugal in 2022.
A 2021 interview documents his progression from restaurant work to a management position in London. His first municipal term runs from 2025 to 2029. Among his documented activities as mayor, a July 2026 meeting with Comboios de Portugal addressed unused railway properties, possible affordable housing, railway heritage and passenger capacity on services departing from Entroncamento.
Before 1974, municipal presidents served under the Estado Novo. Administrative commissions followed the April Revolution; the first democratic local elections took place in 1976. Dates in municipal and academic registers sometimes differ. These differences are noted rather than silently resolved.
Historical register — Maria Antónia Pires de Almeida ↗