BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua said this Sunday that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro wants to export to the whole country the “catastrophic” economic model of the PSD/Madeira, in power for almost 50 years, which he blamed on “feeding the client network.”
The left bloc began its campaign for early elections on May 26 in Madeira with a rally in front of the Legislative Assembly of Funchal, which was also attended by the head of the bloc list, Roberto Almada, and other party leaders.
Mariana Mortagua began by highlighting “all the wonderful things” of the region, including accents, landscapes, people and fruits, before criticizing the regional and national PSD.
“But among all this, of all the incredible things that Madeira has to offer, there is one thing that the PSD is really proud of and that it wants to export from Madeira to the rest of the country, and that is its disastrous economic model. with which it has governed this region for the last 50 years,” he said.
The bloc coordinator added that “it would even be an exaggeration to say that the management of the PSD in Madeira created an economic model, because, in essence, what the PSD in Madeira built was a business model.”
“This is not an economic model, it is a business model that feeds a network of clientele that takes resources from Madeirans and gives them to the elite. And it is this business model that the PSD is proud of, and it is this economic model that Luis Montenegro wants to export products throughout the country,” he accused.
Mariana Mortagua stressed that PSD/Madeira has the “talent” and “gift” of “telling people that they are solving problems when in fact they are doing worse in solving existing problems,” citing existing inequalities as an example. low wages, housing crisis and social measures.
The blocker noted that there are “many poor” people in the region, but there are also “very rich people” who “live in the shadow of the state” and are “protected in monopolies, in concession contracts, in construction.”
“Why is there no ferry in Madeira? [que faça ligação ao continente]? Because for Sousa’s group it doesn’t matter. […] because it doesn’t want to give up its monopoly because it controls Madeira’s transport,” he explained.
The bloc leader also spoke of “an elite that took over the efforts and sweat” of workers and “stole hope for change.”
“This is where the strength of the PSD/Madeira comes from. The power of the PSD/Madeira does not come from freedom, but from fear,” he noted, emphasizing that “they are ready to do anything to maintain this power.”
“And there are also those who are ready to do anything to sell themselves to this government,” said Mariana Mortagua, criticizing the PAN, which signed a parliamentary protection agreement with the PSD/CDU-PP coalition in regional elections last September. , which failed to achieve an absolute majority by an elected official.
Blocker took the opportunity to criticize Chega and its leader Andre Ventura, saying that he was not concerned about Miguel Albuquerque’s management when he invited him to his presidential campaign and when “they exchanged treats to find out who supported the Regional Party” . Government” after last year’s elections.
“The bloc comes to this campaign to give way to hope, to reaffirm the joy of fighting for a good life, for a better life,” stressed Mariana Mortagua, once again intensifying the criticism: “That’s why they are afraid of us, because they are afraid of equality, because they are afraid the end of their privileges because they are afraid of the end of the business that has always made them rich over the years.”
There are 14 candidates running for the Madeira legislature, who will compete for 47 seats in the regional parliament in one electoral district: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS. -PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.
The early elections will take place eight months after the last regional legislative elections, after the President of the Republic dissolved the Parliament of Madeira following the political crisis provoked in January, when the leader of the regional government (PSD/CDU-PP), Miguel Albuquerque, was named as a defendant in the process, in during which suspicions of corruption are being investigated.
In September 2023, the PSD/SDS coalition won without an absolute majority and elected 23 deputies. The PS received 11 mandates, the JPP five, Cega four, and the CDU, IL, PAN (which signed an agreement on parliamentary influence with the Social Democrats) and BE received one mandate each.