PS/Madeira is understandable except PSD and Chega

PS/Madeira is ready to reach an agreement with other parties to form a government after Sunday’s elections, with the exception of PSD and Chega, Paulo Cafofo, head of the socialist list in the upcoming regional elections, said this Wednesday.

“We must be ready to dialogue with all political forces except the PSD and Chega,” Paulo Cafofo told reporters in Camara de Lobos after a caravan of candidates for early regional elections visited several municipalities on Wood Island. .

The leader of the Madeira PS, the largest regional opposition party (it has 11 of the 47 MPs in the island’s parliament), insisted that in Sunday’s elections “the prospect is that there will be no absolute majority” and the Socialists will be the only ones who can compete for the post of president of the regional government with Social Democrat Miguel Albuquerque heading the executive branch since 2015.

Insisting that the PS “will not lend a hand to the PSD” and “will never engage in dialogue” with Chega, which he considers “an anti-autonomist and extremist party,” the Socialist candidate assured that “besides this,” the PS is available for “dialogue for the sake of Madeira ” the day after the elections to “unite to form a government” and allow “an end to these 48 years of the same power” in the region.

Paulo Cafofo also repeated his criticism of the national and regional leaders of Chega, André Ventura and Miguel Castro respectively, who, “despite successes and failures,” have already declared their readiness to conclude agreements with the PSD.

“The regional leader also stated that he will not close the doors of the PSD, which are wide open because Miguel Albuquerque [líder do PSD/Madeira e presidente demissionário do Governo Regional] “I have already said that there are no red lines with Chega or with any party, just to stay in power, I would say, to save my skin,” he said.

As for the PS, he confirmed, “even SDP and Chegi have prohibited lines.”

However, it is premature to “have dialogue and conversations” until Sunday, since it is not known “what the electoral weight of all parties will be,” he added.

“We will therefore wait with all responsibility,” he emphasized, recalling that he “already has experience with the ‘tricks’ in the Funchal City Hall, which was the first contraption created in 2013.”

The head of the PS list also stressed that “there is no guarantee of stability in the PSD,” recalling that it was Miguel Albuquerque who provoked the political crisis in Madeira, which led to the calling of early elections and the resignation of the head of the regional government. “quickly”, on the eve of the discussion and approval of the regional budget for 2024.

“The instability itself is present within the PSD,” he said, referring to the PSD’s last internal elections in March that “split the party in half” and prompted “reorganizations and even the dismissal of Albuquerque’s chief of staff.”

“All the instability is due to Miguel Albuquerque and the PSD,” he stressed, countering that “the PSD is united” and that it has a government project, clearly defined problems and solutions to solve them.

Sunday’s legislative elections in Madeira will feature 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 received five, the Chega received four, and the CDU, IL, PAN (which signed an agreement on parliamentary influence with the Social Democrats) and BE received one mandate each.