Miguel Albuquerque admits he formed a minority government and expects nothing from Chegi

The head of the PSD list for the early regional elections of May 26 in Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, acknowledged this Monday the possibility of forming a minority government and said that he is not waiting for Chegi for anything.

“Minority government is a hypothesis, but it is a bad hypothesis because a minority government is always subject to a series of unforeseen circumstances due to which decisions are delayed, everything cannot be planned on time, and Madeira is not used to this.” he decreed.

Miguel Albuquerque, also leader of the Social Democratic regional structure and outgoing chief executive of the PSD/SDS-PP, spoke to journalists as part of an electoral initiative in the parish of Faial, municipality of Santana, in the north of the island. where he visited the site where the regional government intends to build a business reception center.

“I believe that I will have a majority. Then the issue of controllability should be considered “a posteriori”, because we can consider controllability only from the point of view of the election results, this is not “a priori”, this is not before,” he said, emphasizing that the goal of the PSD is “to do everything to win with clear majority and then form a government.”

The head of the Social Democratic List reacted to statements by Chega leader Andre Ventura on Sunday, who said that the party would not agree to any agreement with the PSD.

“He says one thing and then he says another, it’s a common thing,” Miguel told Albuquerque, stressing that he “doesn’t expect anything from Chegu.”

“I am concerned that Chega will grow because Chega is an anti-autonomist party that makes tavern populism a watchword that makes our democracies vulnerable,” he added.

Miguel Albuquerque also stated that the will of the voters must be respected, emphasizing that “those who determine majorities and governments are not political analysts or even political leaders, they are those who vote.”

The Social Democratic candidate also believes that, despite the fact that the SDP has ruled the autonomous region for 48 years, no political changes will occur after the early elections.

“The people of Madeira are aware of what has been achieved,” he said, recalling “the greatest economic growth in the history of the region”, public and private investment, a gross domestic product (GDP) that “will reach 7 billion euros this year when in 2015 it was 4,000 million,” in addition to the fact that the region currently hosts the largest project in the country, the new Central University Hospital of Madeira, has some of the lowest taxes in the country and returns 560 million euros to the IRS and IRC.

The visit to the site where the Faial Business Reception Center is planned to be built, a project to be financed by the Madeira 2030 program, was attended by two regional secretaries: Pedro Fino from the Equipment and Infrastructure Department and Rogerio Gouveia from the Finance Department.

The Madeira legislature has 14 candidates vying for 47 seats in the regional parliament in one constituency: 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.