The representative of the Republic of the Azores, Pedro Catarino, will begin hearing parties this Monday with the deputies elected to the Legislative Assembly of the region and is expected to nominate a new president of the regional government on Tuesday.
Six hearings are scheduled at the Solar da Madre de Deus, in Angra do Heroísmo, between Monday and Tuesday, a source in the office of the representative of the republic told Lusa.
The leaders of the PSD/CDU-PP/PPM coalition parties, which won the regional legislative elections on the 4th and have governed the region since 2020, are first received by Pedro Catarino at 10:00 local time. (11:00 in the Azores).
At 11:30 a.m. the representative of the Republic receives the leaders of the PS/Açores, followed by a hearing on the Chegi case at 3:00 p.m. and at 4:00 p.m. on the Esquerda Bloc.
On Tuesday, Pedro Catarino will speak from the leaders of the Liberal Initiative at 10 a.m. and the PAN at 11 a.m.
At 17.00, a representative of the republic will speak without the right to questions, in which he will nominate a candidacy for the next chairman of the regional government.
The PSD/CDU-NP/NPM coalition won the regional elections with 43.56% of the vote, but elected 26 of the 57 members of the Legislative Assembly, requiring three more to achieve an absolute majority.
PSD/Azores President and coalition leader José Manuel Bolheiro announced on the night before the elections that he intended to form a government with a relative majority without agreements with other parties.
The PS, which came second with 37.18% of the vote and 23 deputies, has already announced that it will vote against the coalition government program.
Chega, who elected five MPs with 9.51% of the vote, said the government’s program would only be viable if it unified the executive and if CDS-PP and PPM were eliminated.
The Left Bloc (2.63%), Liberal Initiative (2.22%) and PAN (1.71%) each elected one deputy.
According to Article 81, paragraph 1, of the Political-Administrative Statute of the Azores, “the President of the Regional Government is appointed by the representative of the Republic, taking into account the results of the elections to the Legislative Assembly, after consultation with the political parties represented in it.”
The head of the regional executive will take office before the Legislative Assembly.
In 2020, the PS won the regional legislative elections but lost its absolute majority, and Pedro Catarino appointed the PSD/Azores leader as president of the regional government, which formed a post-election coalition with the CDS-PP and PPM and signed parliamentary influence agreements with Chega and the Liberal Initiative. which guaranteed him 29 of the 57 deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Azores.
IL’s only MP and an independent MP (formerly Chega) broke agreements in March 2023, and the region’s 2024 budget proposal failed in November, with PS, BE and IL voting against and abstaining from Enough and PAN, which was led by the IL president. The Republic will announce early elections.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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