Albuquerque hopes opposition will put Madeira’s interests above party interests

The head of the Madeira government, Social Democrat Miguel Albuquerque, said this Wednesday that he hopes that political forces will put “the interests of the region” above party interests and that the executive program will be approved on Thursday.

The Madeira government program began to be debated on Tuesday in the Regional Legislative Assembly under threat of leadership after the PS, Chega and JPP announced their vote against the document of the executive led by Miguel Albuquerque. A vote on the government program is scheduled for Thursday.

“I hope that the political parties, as I said yesterday, [terça-feira]“Putting the interests of the region and all social, economic sectors and families in the region above partisan interests,” is what he said. Therefore, the discussion of the government program should be based, as it was, on the parliamentary framework, on the majority, as I said, on the readiness for dialogue and development of solutions,” said Miguel Albuquerque.

The President of the Government of Madeira spoke to journalists during a visit to the company Requisitos D’Outono, located in the Calheta Business Park and engaged in agricultural production and industrial transformation of agri-food products.

Miguel Albuquerque once again showed his readiness for dialogue with the parties, recalling that he included “a large number of opposition proposals in the government program.”

“This is an important sign that we are ready to dialogue without distorting our program and we hope and continue to hope that the opposition parties will not derail the government’s program, which will ultimately be the budgeting and budgeting process. Since this year is not feasible in Madeira, it is crucial for all sectors, it is important for families and citizens,” the government official emphasized.

The Madeira chief executive also insisted that the elections were over and one party had won: “there is a candidate for the presidency of the government who won the elections, and from this we must work out solutions of common interest,” he stressed.

“Parties, as I have always said, are not instruments for managing the egos of party leaders, they are instruments in the service of the population, and in that sense I think it was important that we see approval of the government’s program,” he repeated, recalling that the opposition parties can abstain from voting, but do not have to vote in favor.

Miguel Albuquerque also reiterated that, despite not wanting such a scenario, he is not afraid to return to elections.

“I hope that the elections will not take place, but, as I said, I am not afraid of elections, I am not afraid of submitting to the judgment of the people. I think it is harmful for these elections to take place for the sake of expectations and, above all, for the sake of the interests of the population of the region,” he said.

In this regard, the leader of the Madeira Executive called on the opposition to think about civil servants “who should receive, see career growth and then financial compensation”, measures that will not be possible without the approval of the Government program, such as, for example, increasing the salaries of firefighters and medical workers or increasing social benefits for older people, among other things.

“So we have a very wide and varied range of situations that require solutions, require solutions, and it is in this sense that expectations are created,” he added.

In early regional elections on May 26, the SDP elected 19 deputies and has five terms left before achieving an absolute majority. The PS elected 11 parliamentarians, the JPP nine, the Chega four and the SDS-PP two, while the IL and the PND elected one MP each.

After the vote, the PSD signed a parliamentary agreement with the Christian Democrats, but it still lacks an absolute majority – both parties have 21 seats, and 24 are needed.

The May elections took place eight months after Madeira’s legislative elections on September 24, 2023, after the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, dissolved the Madeira parliament following a political crisis that erupted in January when Miguel Albuquerque was named as a defendant. in a case of alleged corruption.