BE Madeira says achievements are an opportunity to change power in the region

The Bloc de Esquerda’s candidacy for the early elections on May 26 in Madeira wants to increase representation in parliament and assures that it will “never enter into an agreement with the PSD” or with other right-wing parties.

“Now it is important that people realize that this is an opportunity to change power in the region, but it is necessary that people also give strength to those who, like the Left Bloc, will guarantee that there will be another political and administrative alternative,” said the head of the party list Roberto Almada in an interview with Lusa agency.

The candidate, who is also the only member of the BU in the regional Legislative Assembly, elected in September 2023, believes, however, that if the party loses representation in parliament, there will likely be no “real alternative”.

“We are ready to discuss the program with all those on the left who want to create a political alternative to the SDP, but this is a real political alternative, it is not just a replacement, this is not a government that is doing the same thing,” he said.

For Roberto Carlos Teixeira Almada, who is 53 years old (born November 16, 1970) and is a senior public administration specialist in the field of social education, the political crisis resulting from the process of investigation into alleged corruption in the archipelago may have little benefit for the most important parties, but also an explanation of “what has been the practice of SDP over the last 40 years” of management.

“The left bloc was one of the forces that condemned less clear situations, nepotism, favoritism and situations of alleged corruption, and from this point of view we feel completely comfortable, because we have always condemned this, we have not come now,” he emphasized.

The bloc candidate highlighted among several proposals the fight against corruption, advocating the revision of the Political-Administrative Statute of the Autonomous Region with the aim of extending the regime of incompatibility to persons holding political positions in Madeira, as well as at the national level. .

“For example, it is unacceptable in this Parliament for a businessman MP to approve a law one day from which he can benefit the next day,” he warned, and then reinforced: “This is a promiscuity that has always existed and cannot be changed.”

Roberto Almada, who has been a member of the BE since 2004 and previously joined the UDP, on the other hand, stressed that housing is a “central issue” in the regional panorama, taking into account the high prices of houses and rents, which is why he defends the restrictions imposed on this level.

“We can’t just have luxury housing for big foreign businessmen,” he warned.

Blockers want to introduce restrictions on local housing to free up housing for the market and set a 25% quota on new projects earmarked for social housing – measures that must also be accompanied by a wage rise.

Environment and tourism are other sectors highlighted in the BE program, where measures are aimed at protecting natural heritage and reducing tourism pressure.

“This pressure could destroy our golden hen, which is not only tourism, but also a natural heritage,” he stressed.

Roberto Almada, who was born and lives in Funchal, emphasizes that BE will not enter into agreements with right-wing parties because he believes that “they all want to go into government with Miguel Albuquerque.”

He also removes PAN, the party that signed a parliamentary protection agreement with the Social Democrats after the 2023 elections, making the PSD/CDS-PP government viable.

“Naturally, if after the elections to which we are heading with our program, a parliamentary geometry emerges that is favorable to the creation of a political alternative to the one that the SDP has represented to us over the past almost 50 years, the Left Bloc will be there, only if it were irresponsible, it would exclude yourself out of the discussion,” he said.

BE lost parliamentary representation in Madeira in 2015, but returned in 2023 when Roberto Almada was elected, receiving 3,035 votes (2.30%) out of a total of 135,446 voters.

The events of May 26 occurred eight months after the last regional law was adopted, after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, dissolved the Madeira parliament following a political crisis provoked in January, when the leader of the regional government (CDS-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, was named defendant in a process that is investigating suspicions of corruption.