Polling stations for the early legislative elections in Madeira closed this Sunday at 19:00 on two islands of the archipelago, Madeira and Porto Santo.
According to the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI), 254,522 voters were registered: 249,075 on the island of Madeira and 5,447 on the island of Porto Santo.
Compared to the last regional elections in Madeira in September 2023, 645 more voters were registered.
In the regional elections on September 24, 46.65% abstained, with 135,466 of the 253,877 registered voters casting ballots.
According to an estimate by the Portuguese Catholic University, published by RTP around 6:30 p.m., abstentions this year should range from 44% to 49%.
According to the MAI General Secretariat, as of 16:00, 40.52% of those registered had voted (compared to 39.9% in 2023, 40.79% in 2019 and 37.48% in 2015).
The highest number of abstentions since 1976, the year of the first elections to the Legislative Assembly of Madeira, was recorded in 2015, when 50.42% of the 256,755 registered voters did not turn out to vote.
According to the National Electoral Commission (CNE), Madeira’s regional elections proceeded “as usual, without any incidents reported” and the organization received “some requests for clarification” about propaganda near voting tables.
CNE received several questions regarding the European elections on June 9, but they did not clear up any doubts.
This Sunday, the newspaper Jornal da Madeira, in its online edition, reports that some campaign posters of various candidates located near polling stations had to be removed, despite the fact that electoral law states that propaganda carried out on or before election day , punishable. imprisonment or fine.
Regarding posters, the same law states that the ban applies to distances less than 500 meters from polling stations.
In this Sunday’s elections, 14 candidates are vying for 47 seats in the regional parliament in one circle: ADN, BE, PS, Livre, IL, RIR, CDU (PCP/PEV), Chega, CDS-PP, MPT, PSD, PAN, PTP and JPP.
In the regional legislative assemblies, the representative of the Republic (the position held by Ireneu Barreto) proposes to the political force to form a government based on the results (which must be published) after consultation with the parties with parliamentary seats in the current legislature.
In September 2023, the PSD/CDU-PP 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.
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.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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