The President of the Republic regains the power to dissolve the Madeira Legislative Assembly at the beginning of the week, six months after the regional elections of September 24, which the PSD/CDU-PP coalition won without an absolute majority.
Madeira’s regional government has been in power since early February after the executive president, Social Democrat Miguel Albuquerque, resigned from his post after being accused in a trial over alleged corruption in the archipelago.
Following the dismissal of Miguel Albuquerque, officially accepted on February 5 and leading to the fall of the executive director of the PSD/SDS-PP, the representative of the Republic, Ireneu Barreto, announced that he would retain control of the government of Madeira until the head of the State Minister, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, decides whether to dissolve Legislative Assembly.
The decision can only be made from the beginning of the week, six months after the last regional legislative elections, in accordance with the deadline set in the Constitution.
However, also according to the Basic Law, in order to dissolve the regional parliament, the President of the Republic will first have to listen to the nine parties represented in the Legislative Assembly of Madeira – PSD, CDU-PP, PS, JPP, Chega, HDZ, Illinois. , PAN (which has a parliamentary influence agreement with PSD) and BE – and the Council of State, the political advisory body to the head of state.
On the other hand, as established by the Law on the Elections of the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, in the event of dissolution, the President of the Republic sets the date for the election of deputies “at least 55 days in advance”.
In other words, since the President of the Republic will only be able to decide on the dissolution of Parliament after Sunday and is obliged to listen to the Council of State and the parties represented in the Legislative Assembly in order for the elections to take place. On May 19, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will have only two days to take these steps.
The head of state has a few more days to be able to hold elections on May 26, but he will have to make a decision by the beginning of the first week of April.
However, on Thursday Miguel Albuquerque was re-elected president of the PSD/Madeira in direct internal elections and assured that the party is ready for both scenarios: the end of the legislature or the transition to early elections.
“We are a party of elections, we are not afraid of the people’s suffrage, much less the people’s opinion of our actions,” said the outgoing regional government chairman, who reiterated that he only resigned from his position because PAN pulled out of the game. his support, but he is now ready to negotiate with other parties.
If the early election scenario materializes, Miguel Albuquerque has already said that this time the party will compete alone, unlike what happened in the September elections when it presented itself in an alliance with the CDS-PP.
After the re-election of Miguel Albuquerque, the only PAN/Madeira MP, Monica Freitas, assured that the party maintains the position of not supporting the regional government led by the PSD president in the archipelago until a trial begins to investigate suspicions of corruption.
SDS-PP/Madeira, currently led by Rui Barreto, will undergo leadership changes at a congress scheduled for the weekend of April 13 and 14.
So far, only José Manuel Rodríguez, who presides over the Legislative Assembly and headed the regional structure of the Christian Democrats from 1997 to 2015, has submitted his candidacy, but Lydia Albornoz has also expressed her intention to run for this position.
The PS, the largest opposition party in Madeira, also changed leadership after the September 24 elections, bringing back Paulo Cafofo, who in 2019 achieved the best electoral result for the Socialists in the archipelago.
Paulo Cafofo, part of the government of the Republic led by António Costa, who will leave office at the beginning of April and already headed the House of Funchal, has repeatedly demanded early elections and has already announced that he will be the head of the socialist list if the President of the Republic decides to dissolve the Parliament of Madeira .
On January 24, the Judicial Police (JP) carried out some 130 searches at home and outside, mainly in Madeira, but also in the Azores and various parts of the continent, as part of the process of investigating suspicions of active and passive actions. corruption, participation in business economic activities, malfeasance, receiving or offering undue advantage, abuse of power and undue influence.
Following this operation, the SP detained the then president of the Chamber of Funchal, Pedro Calado (PSD), who has since resigned from his post, the leader of the AFA construction group, Avelino Fariña, and the main shareholder of the civil engineering group Socicorreia, Custódio Correia. The three accused were released with identification documents and residence permits three weeks after their arrest.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.