Jose Manuel Bolheiro rejects the possibility of integrating Chegi into the government

The PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition’s candidate for president of the Azores regional government said on Thursday that integrating Chegi into a future government was not in his scenario and defended the importance of leading a stable executive.

“That’s not part of my script,” Jose Manuel Bolheiro told reporters on Thursday when asked about the possibility of integrating Chegi into the next chief executive if he wins Sunday’s election.

And he justified this by saying that he idealized a “fair scenario” based on the work he had done as prime minister.

“A government of stability, led by me, with a coalition of PSD/CDU/PPM, and where obviously the PSD prevails within the framework of its doctrine, and also because there is ideological and doctrinal coherence between Christian social democracy and ecology. It combines exactly what the PSD, PSD and PPP have,” predicted the candidate, who is also the leader of the PSD/Azores.

Jose Manuel Bolheiro spoke to reporters while campaigning at the Santana fair in the municipality of Ribeira Grande on the island of São Miguel after visiting a feed mill in the same location.

In his statements, the candidate also assured: “I am not involved in any further speculation, but I avoid any insinuation, as often happened at the end of the election campaign.”

“An attempt to falsify meetings and agreements. This is already a manifestation of despair, instead of representing [os partidos da oposição] alternative proposals because this is democracy.”

And he continued: “I have a government with proven results, with a very clear management focus, with public policy results that are now being properly studied and, above all, have demonstrated results in terms of strong economic growth, employment opportunities, wealth creation, social labor stability in all spheres, both in the private and public spheres, especially in such important areas as education and health, there was no collapse, unlike what happened in the country in these matters.”

Given the reality he mentioned, Boleiro said that he does not accept the “anathema” of being “accustomed to any demands of agreements” while his “transparent and demonstrated” agreement is with the PSD/CDU-PP/PPM coalition.

However, he mentioned that he is a “conciliator”, guaranteeing the strategy that he leads in the management of the Azores, which has a lot to do with “a paradigm shift, with a reformist vision, with development, with the cohesion of all the islands in the context of the Azores and, above all, with dignity and projection of the Azores in a European and global context.”

“What I am prepared to do is, with democratic humility, to ask the majority to support the stability of the majority and the absolute majority of mandates in the Legislative Assembly, in order to guarantee a mandate that fulfills, on the one hand, the program of the government, my management strategy, which exists and which I want to continue, as well as the new features that I have introduced into the management agenda,” he said.

During his visit to the Santana fair, José Manuel Bolheiro greeted the sellers and buyers whom he asked to vote in Sunday’s elections, but did not meet the PS, Chega and JPP caravans that were in the same place that morning.

Eleven candidates are vying for the regional legislatures, with 57 seats in the hemicycle: PSD/CDS-PP/PPM (the coalition that currently governs the region), ADN, CDU (PCP/PEV), PAN, Alternative 21 (MPT /PPM) Alliance), Illinois, Chega, Belgium, PS, JPP and Livre.